Traffic on the second Ghat Road leading to the Tirumala town of Lord Venkateswara came to a grinding halt when a car reportedly from Tamil Nadu got totally engulfed in flames. Fortunately, there were no causalities.
The mishap took place in the wee hours of Friday on the Ghat Rabout four kilometres from the temple town. In all, there were five adults and two children on board. The pilgrims headed by J. Kumar who hailed from Vurandurpet in Villupuram district had hired the vehicle and set-out on a pilgrimage the previous night.
No sooner the fire broke out, the driver of the vehicle Manikandan immediately stopped the car along side the road as all the passengers ran to safety. The vehicle was completely gutted in the fire. Even though the cause of fire is yet to be established, short-circuit is believed to have led to the mishap.
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Fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Vehicular traffic was diverted onto the link road for a brief period. Normalcy was restored after the arrival of the TTD s security and vigilance personnel who monitored and regulated the traffic.