KUANTAN: A family of five managed to scramble out of their car in the nick of time when it went up in flames on Jalan Genting Highlands, on Monday (May 9).

       A Pahang Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) spokesman said the department received an emergency call at 1.44 pm and officers and firemen from the Genting Highlands fire and rescue station rushed to the scene.

       He said upon their arrival they found a Hyundai Elantra car which was believed to have caught fire at KM 2.9 was sliding backwards along the road.

       "An operation to put out the fire was carried out but 80 per cent of the vehicle had been razed. A couple and their three small children escaped unhurt,” he said when contacted on Tuesday (May 10).

       The cause of the fire was still being investigated by the JBPM forensic team, he added.

       Meanwhile, Bentong OCPD Supt Zaiham Mohd Kahar said preliminary investigations found that the car was heading to Genting Highlands from Kuala Lumpur when the incident took place.

       He said that fire broke out from the engine compartment of the car which was driven by a 44-year-old man and rapidly spread to other parts of the vehicle.

       "The driver quickly stopped the car on the road and the family scrambled out to safety,” he said in a media statement here on Tuesday, adding that the car then slid backwards and collided with a Toyota Vellfire multi-purpose vehicle (MPV).

       "The driver of the Toyota Vellfire was unhurt,” he said.

       He urged any witnesses to the incident to come forward to assist in the investigation into the case, which was being investigated under Rule 14 of the Road Traffic Rules 1959 (LN 166/59).

       Earlier, a video of the burning car backing into another vehicle on a hilly stretch of the road, which was recorded by a Genting Highlands cable car passenger, went viral on social media.- Bernama

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