Lucky escape for family of four after BMW catches fire

A family of four had a miraculous escape after their luxury sedan caught fire on a busy road in northern Bengaluru on Saturday night, police said.

Bagalagunte resident Mohammed Irshad, his wife and their two children were driving a BMW 5 Series car when a motorcyclist alerted them to thick smoke billowing from the rear side of the automobile, near 8th Mile Cross in Peenya around 9.30 pm, a senior police officer said.

Irshad and his wife jumped out of the front doors. But the back doors were jammed, and their son and daughter who were sitting in the rear seats had to be pulled out through the front doors. Minutes later, the car went up in flames.

Traffic policemen and passersby helped the family retrieve their belongings from the burning car.

Nobody was injured. Police cordoned off the area and called the fire brigade. Firefighters rushed to the spot and doused the flames with water.

A preliminary investigation found that the car was parked in the family’s home and hadn’t been used for a long time.

Irshad said he decided to drive his family to Wilson Garden and JP Nagar to distribute blankets to poor people sleeping on footpaths and in bus stands. The car had run for a kilometre and stopped at the signal when the motorcyclist alerted them to the thick smoke, he added.

Bagalagunte police said they had opened a case and sought expert opinion on the cause of the fire.