Firemen put out blaze after three-hour battle

A few persons, who were present in the area roughly a couple of hours past 1 am, saw a car with a couple on board ramming a tree. The car caught fire soon as soon as it crashed into the tree. Passers-by and those present in the vicinity could not go near the vehicle so they informed the Control Room of fire and rescue services department. However, it took 12 minutes for the fire tender to reach the spot from Mylapore unit, which is a stone’s throw distance from the accident spot. 

As per the log book entry at the Control Room, a fire tender from Mylapore reached the spot at 2.03 am and little later another fire tender from Teynampet arrived at the scene. 

However, by the time the fire tenders reached the spot, the two occupants of the car, ace racer Ashwin Sundar and his wife Dr Nivedhitha, were charred beyond recognition and the vehicle continued to burn triggering several minor explosions. Meanwhile, several live videos of the car on fire went viral on social media, announcing the demise of the young racer. 

The fire service personnel could only douse the fire by 4.55 am, after battling for almost three hours. Fire service sources said an air-conditioner valve burst in the impact and that could have caused the fire. However, they were also baffled at the speed with which the fire engulfed the vehicle. 

The police had to spend a few more hours to pull the bodies out of the vehicle. Both the bodies were found in upright positions inside the car, with no signs of them having tried to open the car doors or trying to remove the convertible top.