Car gutted in fire at Tekulapalli; couple escape unhurt

A government teacher and his wife narrowly escaped after their car caught fire at Tekulapalli mandal in Kothagudem district on Sunday. An electrical short circuit, possibly linked to the heater, is suspected. The vehicle was completely gutted

Kothagudem: A government teacher and his wife had a lucky escape after the car in which they were travelling accidentally caught fire at Karukonda Ramavaram in Tekulapalli mandal in the district on Sunday.

According to the police, Lakavath Kishan and his wife, Lakshmi, were going to Govindarala village in Kamepalli mandal of Khammam from Paloncha town to attend the ‘Irumudi’ ritual of an Ayyappa devotee when the incident occurred. It was said that the heater in the car was switched on while they were travelling in view of the cold weather. An electric short circuit is suspected to have triggered the fire. The couple got out of the car on noticing smoke coming out of the air-condition vents and informed the fire services.

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The firefighters arrived at the spot and doused the fire. However, by then, the car was gutted due to the fire. Traffic on the Kothagudem-Yellandu road was disrupted for a while because of the incident.