EM Bypass: A Hyundai Verna with an allegedly drunk man at the wheel caught fire just when it was about to hit the Bypass from the Prince Anwar Shah Road connector on Thursday morning.

Police said Mohammed Islam staggered out of the car even as flames engulfed the engine a little ahead of the stop line at the intersection around 7.10am.

Traffic cops at the site called for a fire engine that arrived within minutes but could not douse the flames because of a mechanical defect. The facility manager of a housing complex near the intersection allowed the police to use the property's fire-fighting system, but the car was charred by then.

The driver later failed a breathalyser test, although his condition might not have anything to do with the fire. The damaged vehicle was towed to Garfa police station, where forensic tests would be done to ascertain the cause of the fire.