Hazaribag: A moving truck laden with iron rods caught fire on Tuesday near the Chordaha picket under Chauparan police station area on GT road triggering a temporary traffic disruption on the busy highway.As the flames rapidly engulfed the vehicle, the driver and the cleaner jumped off the truck on time to escape unhurt. Police said that no casualties were reported in the incident. However, the front portion of the truck got completely gutted. The truck was on its way from Ramgarh district to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, police added.Preliminary investigation suggests that the fire may have been triggered due to a short circuit or a mechanical fault in the engine. On receiving information, Chordaha picket in-charge Nitish Kumar alerted the fire brigade. However, due to poor condition of the national highway stretch between Barhi and Chauparan, the fire tender took nearly an hour to reach the spot.The incident led to a long traffic jam on NH-19, as vehicles were stranded on both sides of the highway. “Police temporarily halted movement on the main carriageway and diverted traffic through the service road to ease congestion. We have seized the damaged vehicle and initiated further probe into the incident,” Kumar said.
