ALOR STAR: The owner of a Perodua Kembara suffered burns to his left leg when his vehicle burst into flames at Km59 of the North-South Expressway, near here, this evening.
Shahril Hanizam Nordin, 19, was driving from his home in Taman Bersatu, Kuala Nerang, to the Merbok Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) campus in Sungai Petani when the incident occurred about 4.15pm.
He had stopped his vehicle by the side of the NSE as soon as smoke began coming out of his engine compartment.
However, as soon as he stopped, the vehicle burst into flames, injuring him before he could alight from the Kembara.
Jalan Raja fire station operations commander Mohd Farid Abdullah said the Fire and Rescue Department received a distress call at 4.25pm.
He said a team of firemen aboard an engine was immediately despatched to the scene, arriving 15 minutes later.
“When we arrived, the fire was raging and spreading quite quickly to other parts of the vehicle. We managed to put it out within eight minutes.
“By that time, the driver of the vehicle had already managed to escape, but not before suffering burns on 15 per cent of his left leg.”
Farid said the cause of the fire and damages were still being investigated.
It is understood that this is the second such incident this year. Last month, a 71-year-old doctor was killed in a similar incident along the NSE, near Bukit Kayu Hitam.