Car Catches Fire Inside Mumbai Coastal Road Tunnel, Traffic Disrupted; No Injuries Reported

Mumbai: Panic gripped commuters on Wednesday afternoon after a moving car caught fire inside the southbound tunnel of the Mumbai Coastal Road, triggering traffic congestion and a large-scale emergency response.

According to the Mumbai Fire Brigade, the incident was reported at around 12:25 PM. Firefighters responded swiftly and succeeded in extinguishing the blaze before it spread further. No injuries have been reported in the incident.

Follow MahaENews-X on: Follow MahaENews on Instagram

The fire led to a complete halt in traffic inside the tunnel, with several vehicles stranded. Videos circulating on social media showed motorists abandoning their cars and moving towards safety as smoke spread through the tunnel.

Valid concerns expressed by a citizen who was stuck at Coastal Road today. There must be some emergency traffic response personnel deployed for such situations so that panic doesn’t spread. I am told authorities are on ground at the moment and the tunnel portion is closed. @mybmc… https://t.co/yVGabU9wK4

— Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) July 15, 2026

Eyewitness Shaunak Modi, who was travelling through the tunnel, described the frightening experience in a social media post. He said that shortly after entering the Coastal Road tunnel from Worli, he saw people running towards the exit. After asking one of them what had happened, he was told that a vehicle had caught fire. Many drivers reportedly left their vehicles behind in a bid to escape, resulting in severe congestion inside the tunnel.

Emergency response teams immediately launched evacuation and rescue operations, safely guiding commuters out of the tunnel. Authorities also began removing stranded vehicles to restore traffic movement.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyanarayan Chaudhary said that traffic between Breach Candy and Nariman Point through the tunnel was temporarily suspended following the incident. He confirmed that no casualties had been reported and that police were investigating the cause of the fire.

Traffic has since been allowed on the northbound carriageway, while restoration work continues on the affected southbound lane.

The incident also sparked public discussion over emergency preparedness inside long road tunnels. Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad shared the eyewitness account on social media, stressing the need for robust emergency systems and rapid traffic clearance mechanisms to deal with similar incidents in the future.

Follow MahaENews-X on: Follow MahaENews on Instagram