TOKYO (TR) – A man in his 50s suffered burns to his head and hands after accidentally setting his own car on fire while driving along a major ring road in Adachi Ward, reports TV Asahi (May 5).
At around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, emergency dispatchers were flooded with calls reporting a passenger vehicle billowing smoke and flames on the outer loop of Kannana-dori (Ring Road No. 7) in the Oyata area.
Witnesses reported seeing bright orange flames erupting from the driver’s side of the vehicle, followed seconds later by a loud, explosive popping sound.
According to police, the driver admitted that the fire was entirely self-inflicted. The man was smoking behind the wheel and sparked the inferno when he placed his lit cigarette into the gap between the driver and passenger seats.
In a disastrous attempt at damage control, the man initially tried to extinguish the growing fire himself using a plastic bottle of drinking water. Believing he had successfully put out the flames, he stepped on the gas and began driving again — only for the fire to immediately and violently reignite.
It took firefighters approximately one hour to completely extinguish the blaze, which left the interior of the passenger car heavily charred.
The careless driver sustained burns to his head and fingers but was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
