Straw-laden truck touches live wire; goes up in flames near Arakkonam

A truck driver suffered minor injuries after the vehicle carrying straw caught fire when it came in contact with a live overhead cable in Panapakkam village near Arakkonam in Ranipet on Saturday.

Police said that the driver, S. Reddiyappa Raju (43), a native of Chittoor in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, managed to jump off the vehicle before the driver’s cabin caught fire. The truck was carrying straw from Panapakkam village to Chittoor.

When the truck reached the Government Higher Secondary School on Panapakkam – Arakkonam Main Road, the straw touched the low-lying live cable, which triggered a fire. However, the driver did not notice this and was driving the vehicle when the fire spread to the entire load of straw.

The villagers drew the attention of the driver to the fire. Immediately, the driver steered the wheel into the extreme end of the stretch and stopped it. He managed to climb onto the vehicle and pushed down the straw bundles on the road, to prevent the fire from spreading further. He then jumped off the vehicle.

In the impact, he suffered minor injuries. The locals alerted the fire and rescue services officials from Ranipet, who rushed to the scene and put out the flames. They battled for nearly an hour to bring the flames under control.

The truck was not completely gutted as the bundles of straw were thrown off the vehicle. Traffic was not affected as there were not many vehicles plying on the road at the time of the accident, which occurred around 1 p.m. A case was registered by Nemili police and further probe is under way.