Five members of a family from Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh, have been killed after their car caught fire on the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway near Alwar in Rajasthan, with the vehicle turning into a fireball within minutes. The incident occurred late Wednesday night near Maujpur, Laxmangarh police station area, at pillar number 115/300, while the family was returning home after visiting Vaishno Devi in Jammu. The driver, Vinod Kumar Mehar (also from Sheopur), sustained around 80% burn injuries but managed to jump out and is undergoing treatment in Alwar.
What happened in the accident
Witnesses and police say the car was travelling from Delhi towards Kota when an intense blaze suddenly erupted inside the moving vehicle, engulfing it completely. The five passengers—three women, one man, and a child—had no time to escape and were charred to death inside the car. Fire tenders from Alwar brought the flames under control, but the vehicle was reduced to ashes by the time they arrived. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and local police are now investigating the exact cause, with early indications pointing toward a possible CNG‑system leak or another mechanical fault as the trigger.
Location and response
The accident happened on the relatively new six‑lane Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, a high‑speed corridor where such sudden conflagrations are rare but particularly deadly because of the pace of traffic and limited immediate emergency exits. The driver was first taken to a Community Health Centre (CHC) in Pinan before being referred to Alwar General Hospital in critical condition. Senior police officers, including SP Sudhir Chaudhary, have visited the site, and the Laxmangarh police station is registering a case and conducting a detailed probe into the cause of the fire.
