Car catches fire inside Mumbai Coastal Road tunnel; stretch temporarily closed

A moving car caught massive fire inside the Mumbai Coastal Road tunnel on the Haji AliWorli carriageway on Wednesday afternoon triggering panic among motoristsAccording to preliminary information the incident was reported to the Mumbai Fire Brigade MFB control room at 1225 pm on July 15 The vehicle caught fire while travelling through the tunnel lane connecting Haji Ali to WorliFire brigade personnel police officials and a 108 ambulance were immediately rushed to the spot to tackle the situation and ensure commuter safetyThe incident triggered heavy traffic congestion in the area and disrupted vehicular movement on the Mumbai Coastal Road By 130 pm traffic on both the southbound and northbound carriageways had resumed after the fire was brought under control and the affected vehicle was removed from the tunnelAccording to the Tardeo Traffic Police the fire involving a vehicle at CP 5 on the southbound Coastal Road was extinguished with the assistance of the Mumbai Fire Brigade The charred vehicle was later removed from the tunnel with the help of a craneldquoTraffic on both the southbound and northbound carriageways has been reopened and efforts are underway to restore normal traffic flowrdquo the traffic police saidNow Traffic Is Clear MTPTrafficUpdatmdash Mumbai Traffic Police MTPHereToHelp July 15 2026Motorists abandoned their vehicles and ranPeople reportedly abandoned their vehicles and ran to safety The incident has raised serious concerns with motorists alleging a lack of clear signage inside the tunnel ldquoIt was shocking and scaryrdquo commuters saidldquoThere was a massive fire involving a vehicle inside the tunnel I could see hundreds of cars stuck People were leaving their cars and running towards the exit says Viren Shah Eyewitness and President of Federation of Retail Traders Welfare AssociationWe could not figure out whether the fire had started inside the vehicle or if an external source had caused it Our first priority was to save ourselves he addedAnother eyewitness posting on X described the scene as unprecedented Ive never experienced anything like this before Just minutes after entering the Coastal Road tunnel from Worli I saw hundreds of people running towards us the user wroteI have never experienced anything like it Entered the Coastal Road tunnel from Worli and in a couple of minutes saw 100s of people running towards us Asked one person and he said ldquoaage aag lagi hairdquo Irsquom not sure what was on fire or if there even was one but many people justhellip pictwittercomW3vnWb1g41mdash Shaunak Modi Pugdandee July 15 2026Traffic disrupted after car fire in Coastal Road tunnelAuthorities had temporarily closed the affected stretch of the Mumbai Coastal Road following the vehicle fire leading to major traffic disruptions in South MumbaiThe closure resulted in heavy congestion on several key routes with commuters travelling through Marine Drive Nariman Point Churchgate Marine Lines P DMello Road Peddar Road Haji Ali and Worli facing significant delaysMumbai Maharashtra Traffic movement on the Mumbai Coastal Road was affected following a firerelated incident Heavy congestion was witnessed along stretches of the Coastal Road with vehicles moving slowly as authorities managed the situation pictwittercomSJxBS9C31kmdash IANS ians_india July 15 2026 MTPTrafficUpdatemdash Mumbai Traffic Police MTPHereToHelp July 15 2026