While motorists were gripped with panic after a car broke out in flames inside the Coastal Road tunnel around noon on Wednesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said the structure’s disaster management system worked very well, and standard operating procedure was followed, preventing a bigger crisis.

A civic official told mid-day that it took about 20 minutes to douse the fire, and the tunnel was opened to traffic 1.5 hours later. “No structural damage has been caused to the road, and the tunnel’s structural integrity is intact,” the official stated.