Delhi: MBA student escapes unhurt as Mercedes goes up in flames on DND flyover

A student of Amity University had a lucky escape on Tuesday evening when his five-day-old Mercedes car worth over Rs 35 lakh suddenly burst into flames near Maharani Bagh on the DND Flyway, turning the brand new luxury sedan into scrap in a matter of minutes.

The fire broke out around 4.40pm, when Gagan Kalra, a second-year MBA student at the university in Noida, was returning home to Kailash Colony in south Delhi.

He told the fire department officials later that he saw smoke coming out of the bonnet of the car near DND and he parked it on the side of the road to check the source of the smoke.

But as soon as he stepped out, the car spontaneously caught fire. The 20-year-old, however, managed to escape without any injuries.

As the car burned, traffic piled up behind it and caused an hour-long snarl on the DND Flyway.

Kalra called the fire department but by the time firemen reached the spot, the car had been completely gutted. Kalra's father said he had gifted the Mercedes Benz CLA 200 to his son just five days ago.

"We received a call that a fire broke out in a Mercedes. A fire tender was rushed to the spot but the car was gutted completely within 15 minutes," a senior officer of the Delhi fire service said, adding, "Fortunately, Gagan Kalra had not applied the central lock of the car. He could have been trapped inside and gotten hurt," the official said.

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