Firemen douse the flames on the car.
SARIKEI: A car was totally damaged after it caught fire along Jalan Meruton/Merudu, about 10 kilometres from here yesterday afternoon.
Sarikei District Fire and Rescue Services (Bomba) station chief Suna Kaha said the incident could have happened minutes before they received a call from a member of the public at 4.09pm.
A team of nine firemen dispatched to the scene immediately noticed that the fire had engulfed the entire car when they arrived 10 minutes later, he said.
He said firemen managed to put out the fire within 10 minutes and by then the car was already reduced to a metal scrap.
The car driver, in his 30s, told the firefighters that the fire started from the bonnet of the car.
According to the driver, who identified himself as a staff of Sarawak General Hospital, he and his wife were on their way to Kuching.
He said when they reached a road junction leading to a high-level water tank, he noticed smoke billowing from the back of the car and he stopped the car.
Narrating the incident to the firemen, he said as the fire grew bigger, he and his wife, fearing for their safety, moved a distance way and watched at their burning car helplessly.
The cause of the fire is being investigated.