Lopburi teacher’s close call in car fire due to suspected engine malfunction
A teacher narrowly escaped a car fiery mishap while en route to school earlier today, suspecting that an engine malfunction may have sparked the fire. At exactly 07,49am, the Ban Mi Municipality’s Fire and Rescue team were alerted of the burning car incident occurring near the Ban Mi Municipality Sports ground, in the Pon Thong sub-district, Lopburi province.
The scene greeted the rescue team with a sight of a Toyota saloon, in grey colour marked with the Ayutthaya license plate number กฉ-3117, ablaze with fire vigorously emanating from the engine compartment. Initial attempts to put off the blaze with chemical fire extinguishers proved unsuccessful, prompting the use of water to ultimately contain the fire. Unfortunately, the vehicle was engulfed in the flames leaving it completely in ruins.
Investigations revealed that the car was being driven by 25 year old Sirikanya Khunthothom, a teacher from a school not far away. She revealed her unfortunate early morning experience when she was about 2 kilometres from her house on her way to the Ban Bang Li School. Approaching the site of the incident, she smelt an unusual burnt odour and noticed smoke filtering into her car, reported KhaoSod. She said…
“It took about ten seconds from the smell to an eruption of fire from underneath the car, lots of smoke shooting out.”
Sirikanya quickly leapt from the vehicle and called for help, fortunately escaping with no injuries apart from the shock of the experience.
Preliminary checks hint at the likely cause of the episode is some engine anomaly compounded by potential short-circuiting of the various electrical cables getting soaked in leaking engine oil, sparking the fire that nearly resulted in tragedy.
In February, a car on the Ploenchit exit ramp of the Chalerm Maha Nakhon Expressway in Din Daeng, Bangkok, briefly caused traffic to come to a halt in the bustling central business district when it burst into flames. To read more about the story click HERE
