more-in A tanker lorry carrying furnace oil caught fire after hitting an iron post by the side of the 400 feet Minjur to Vandalur by-pass road at Nazarathpet on Tuesday. Traffic was affected for some time on the stretch. According to the police, the oil tanker was carrying 24,000 litres of furnace oil from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh to Singaperumalkoil. It was to be unloaded at a factory. The vehicle was being driven by Karthikeyan, 23. Chellamuthu, 48, the cleaner, was in the vehicle. When the vehicle was proceeding on the Minjur-Vandalur bypass road, the tyres burst. “The driver lost control of the vehicle and hit a compound wall. It then hit a 25-foot iron pillar by the side of the road and stopped,” said a Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service officer. The lights on the sign board fell on the lorry, causing the fire. “The driver and cleaner managed to jump out of the vehicle,” he added. Thick smoke engulfed the area. Other motorists informed the police and fire services personnel. Fire engines from Ambattur, Poonamalee and Egmore and other nearby stations rushed to the spot. A team headed by T. Mathialagan, district officer, TNFRS, South, used foam to extinguish the fire. “We reached the spot in 10 minutes and by then nearly 30% of the vehicle was burnt. We managed to douse the fire in an hour,” explained the officer. Traffic hit Fire service personnel said traffic was affected. “The thick smoke affected visibility on the stretch,” said a traffic police officer. A case has been registered at the Poonamalee traffic investigation police. Driver Karthikeyan has been arrested. Further investigation is on.

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