The alertness of the driver of a lorry transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders averted a possible disaster on the Bangalore-Mysore highway in Ramanagaram on Friday.
The lorry, belonging to Hindustan Petroleum, was transporting 450 cylinders to Bangalore from Mysore. On noticing fire in his cabin at around 3.30 p.m., the driver parked the lorry on the side of the road near Ghousia College of Engineering and alerted the police and company authorities.
He also tried the douse the fire with the help of local residents. However, within minutes, the fire started to spread.
Two fire tenders from Channapatna arrived within 15 minutes and extinguished the fire after nearly 30 minutes, an eyewitness said.
The local police had stopped the movement of vehicles on the highway for nearly an hour as a precautionary measure.
