‘A passing motorist alerted us’: Inside the first minutes of Mumbai’s Coastal Road tunnel fire | Mumbai News
4 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jul 16, 2026 10:18 AM IST
“We were heading towards South Mumbai when a person in a passing vehicle alerted us that something had fallen from our car. I immediately asked my driver to stop. As soon as I got out, I noticed smoke coming from the vehicle. Immediately, my mother and other family members came out. Thankfully, all of us escaped safely,” recalled 60-year-old Sudhir Nair, who was travelling in a Maruti Ignis with three family members, including his elderly mother, on Wednesday afternoon.
Within minutes, flames engulfed the vehicle inside India’s first undersea road tunnel on Mumbai’s Coastal Road, forcing traffic to a halt and triggering an emergency response involving police, firefighters and the tunnel’s automated safety systems.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established. By the time the blaze was extinguished, the Maruti Ignis had been gutted. No injuries were reported.
A burned car was removed from the tunnel on the Mumbai Coastal Road today after a blaze caused thick smoke and disrupted traffic.(Express Photo by Akash Patil)
The first few minutes
According to police, the family was travelling from Thane to Churchgate when they noticed flames emerging from the engine compartment near the bonnet. “They got scared, immediately stopped the car and alerted the police control room,” an officer said.
As panic spread, several motorists stopped their vehicles inside the tunnel. Nair said strangers were among the first to respond.
“We are safe because of the helping nature of Mumbai’s citizens. Almost everyone stopped their vehicles and rushed to help us. I do not know who informed the police, but they reached the spot within a few minutes and safely escorted us out of the tunnel.”
I 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 “aage aag lagi hai”.
I’m not sure what was on fire or if there even was one, but many people just… pic.twitter.com/W3vnWb1g41
— Shaunak Modi (@Pugdandee) July 15, 2026
Police said a patrol vehicle from Gaondevi police station reached the spot within about 10 minutes. “The officers shifted all four family members to the police vehicle and safely evacuated them from the tunnel,” a D.B. Marg police officer said. The family, he added, remained in shock after the incident.
The southbound lane was temporarily closed while firefighters extinguished the vehicle fire and ventilated the tunnel. (Express Photo by Akash Patil)
How the tunnel responded
While the family was being evacuated, the tunnel’s emergency systems had already begun responding.
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According to senior Mumbai Fire Brigade officials, an emergency call reached the Coastal Road control room near Amarsons Junction. At the same time, the tunnel’s linear heat detection system automatically detected the fire and alerted the control room.
“When we received the call, we dispatched a quick response vehicle dedicated to emergencies on the Coastal Road. By the time our personnel reached the spot, the flames were confined to the car,” said Umesh Palande, Divisional Officer, Mumbai Fire Brigade.
The fire was reported at 12.25 pm and completely extinguished by 12.44 pm, he said.
The southbound lane was temporarily closed while firefighters extinguished the vehicle fire and ventilated the tunnel. (Express Photo by Akash Patil)
The biggest challenge inside any tunnel fire is smoke. Officials said the tunnel’s Saccardo ventilation system, installed when the Coastal Road opened, quickly forced fresh air into the tunnel while pushing smoke away from the fire site, improving visibility and reducing the risk of suffocation.
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“The tunnel is also equipped with pressurised fire hydrants, which prevented the flames from spreading,” Palande said.
Firefighters said another layer of protection came from the tunnel’s calcium silicate fire boards, which insulate the concrete lining from extreme heat and help prevent structural damage during a fire.
After the fire was extinguished and the burnt vehicle removed, traffic through the tunnel gradually resumed.
Officials said the Mumbai Fire Brigade, Mumbai Police and the Regional Transport Office will jointly investigate what caused the Maruti Ignis to catch fire.
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