After seeing smoke, Swedish man’s car burst into flames

A Volvo turned into a fiery inferno in Phuket with its owner barely escaping injury after pulling over the car when he saw smoke. The incident took place on Monday afternoon as a Swedish man was driving toward Rawai Beach. The 57 year old man had been driving around without any sign of a problem until he saw smoke under the hood.

He had been heading to the Rawai Beach area when, at around 4.30pm, black smoke started spilling out from under the hood. He pulled the car over into a nearby parking lot to stop the vehicle as the engine bay smoked. He pulled into a post office lot and quickly climbed out of his car.

Stopping immediately may have saved his life as the smoke quickly became fire which spread from under the hood through the entire car, engulfing it in flames. Firefighters were called to the scene to battle the blaze, according to a report issued by the Phuket Info Centre.

The firefighters sprung into action and within 10 minutes they had the fire under control. No one was injured by the flames, but the car was heavily damaged. The estimated cost of salvaging the Swedish man’s car is between 300,000 and 400,000 baht, according to The Phuket News.

The fire ravaged the entire car, which was registered in Phuket, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky. The green Volvo was essentially beyond repair. The driver says he has no idea what could have caused the massive fire that totalled his car. But he was lucky to stop the car and escape when he did.