BENTONG: Motorists on Jalan Genting Highlands-Bentong at 1.45pm yesterday must have had quite a shock.
Heading downhill – in reverse – was a car engulfed in flames, with no driver inside.
Perhaps none, though, were more shocked than the occupants of a multi-purpose vehicle when the burning vehicle crashed into it.
Luckily, no one was injured in the incident, which happened to be caught on camera by someone travelling in a cable car above the road near Genting Highlands.
Bentong police chief Superintendent Zaiham Mohd Kahar said investigations revealed the incident occurred at Km2.9 Jalan Genting Highlands-Bentong and involved a Hyundai Elantra.
"The 44-year-old Hyundai driver was travelling to Genting from Kuala Lumpur when he noticed the engine was on fire. When the fire spread to other parts of the vehicle, the driver, along with his other family members, scrambled out of the vehicle.
"The burning car slid backwards down the road before hitting the front of a Toyota Vellfire multi-purpose vehicle. None of the victims were injured in the incident," he said in a statement today.
He urged those who witnessed the incident to come forward and assist with police investigations.
Meanwhile, Genting Highlands Fire and Rescue Department deputy chief Norzaide Zainudin said the Hyundai had caught fire at Km2.9 before it slid backwards and struck another vehicle at Km3.0.
"A husband and wife, along with their three children, scrambled out of the vehicle before the burning car rolled down the slope. The car was about 80 per cent destroyed in the incident," he said, adding that five firemen from the Genting Highlands station were deployed to bring the fire under control.
In the viral Tik Tok video, the burning car which was in the slow lane had rolled backwards toward the fast lane before hitting the Toyota.
Several other vehicles travelling along the same direction had stopped, while some were forced to swerve to avoid colliding with the "runaway" car.