Hyderabad: The Monappa island at Somajiguda resembled a scene from a Tollywood movie on Friday morning when traffic cops saved three people from a car that had caught fire.
The 30 minutes of action caused a line of onlookers and traffic slowdown on the route at a time when AP CM Chandrababu Naidu’s convoy was heading towards that direction.
A squad of five traffic policemen, after alerting the car’s driver and taking the car to the side, rushed to a nearby construction site and brought in water sprinklers, sand and mud to douse the fire.
The traffic policemen who rushed to help the vehicle’s occupants were SI Subhash, homeguard Nagaraju and two other homeguards along with Punjagutta traffic inspector K. Srinivasa Rao.
“Our men spotted the vehicle (AP29S8001) suddenly catching fire at the Monappa junction. Fire was seen coming out from the engine when we intervened and a constable ran to get a sprinkler from a nearby construction site. We helped out the three people inside the car and our team managed to control the fire by using mud and sand,” said Mr Srinivasa Rao.
“Initially I thought it was a movie scene being shot. The cops were quick to act and pulled out the passengers,” said Krishna sai, an onlooker.
The Ford Fiesta’s occupants were owner C.V. Mohan, his wife and his driver Chinkraju. The fire raged for 15 minutes before it was doused and the occupants escaped unhurt.
In the meantime, an alert about Mr Naidu’s convoys’ passing through the route came in and the police had to rush to ensure smooth passage for the convoy.
“There was a state of slight panic as onlookers had stopped to look at the burning car and had caused a traffic slowdown. We somehow managed to clear the route for the convoy minutes before it passed,” said the cop.
