JOHOR BARU: A family had a close brush with disaster when their Mercedez Benz 240 caught fire in Jalan Skudai this afternoon.
The family made it out of the car just in time before flames completely engulfed the vehicle in the 3.30pm incident.
Abu Suffian Jinan, 46, and his family were on their way to attend a relative's wedding when their car developed engine trouble.
Suffian, a project manager, stopped the car near the Skudai-Pontian and got his family out of the car.
The family dashed to a bus stop 50m away and watched in shock as flames engulfed the car.
The other passengers were Abu Suffian's wife, the couple's two children aged 11 and 12, his sister-in-law and her baby.
"We were quite shaken up but we're glad no one was hurt," Abu Suffian told the New Straits Times.
"We were heading to Senai from Bandar Baru Uda to attend my cousin's wedding when I noticed the dashboard indicating that the engine was heating up when I reached the Skudai-Pontian intersection," he said.
He said the car was 13-years-old and runs on NGV.
Pulai Fire and Rescue Department operations commander Riduan Gembor led a team of five firemen to the site after receiving the distress call at 3.40pm.
"There was a traffic jam but we managed to reach the scene in 12 minutes. We brought the fire under control in five minutes. It took about half an hour to completely put out the fire."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.