Mumbai: 

Prabjot Singh Arora

Saviour: Naseem Khan saved the  Arora family. pic/sameer markande

Prabjot Singh Arora, his wife, two kids and two other women were driving home to Thane from Powai at 1 am, in their Maruti Van, when disaster struck. The CNG engine in the van caught fire and had it not been for an alert motorist driving alongside, the Arora family may not have lived to see this morning.

Naseem Khan was driving behind the Aroras, near IIT Powai, when he saw the van was on fire. Desperate, he overtook, stopped the van and asked the Aroras to get out. Horrifyingly, the doors did not open. So Khan quickly summoned help from bystanders, broke the windows, opened the door and got the six passengers out of the van.

Said Naseem Khan, "I saw sardarjee and his family inside the blazing van. They did not realise it was on fire, so I shouted 'aag, aag…' and stopped their vehicle and rushed to help." In 10 minutes, the entire van was ablaze.

He added, "Had it not been for people from the Ganesh mandal nearby who helped haul the family to safety, I dread to think what could have happened. We also informed the fire brigade."

A fire brigade officer said, "Luckily the CNG gas cylinder did not explode, or there would have been a massive explosion."