Car catches fire, narrow escape for driver

Ludhiana: A car caught fire at Southern Bypass near Ferozepur Road on Wednesday evening, and was burnt completely. Gandhi Nagar resident Pawan Kumar, who was driving the car of his company — a Fiat Punto — and going towards Ferozepur Road for some work, had a narrow escape. A fire brigade was rushed to the spot to control the situation.
As per fire officials, the fire call was made at around 4.30pm by Pawan, when the car he was driving suddenly caught fire. He said while driving, he sensed some kind of smell in the car, and when he checked after stopping it, there was smoke coming out, and suddenly flames engulfed the car. He said it was a narrow escape for him.
However, the fire tender was sent from the central fire station to the local bus stand, because the fire tender from Hambran Road fire station (which is the nearest) was sent on election duty at Mullanpur, where Congress president Rahul Gandhi was addressing a rally in support of Congress candidate Ravneet Bittu.
Meanwhile, a dilapidated parked bus had also caught fire near Punjabi Bhawan, when somebody set the garbage on fire. A truck parked adjoining the bus was also gutted in the fire.