It wasn’t the rain or the potholes or the sinkholes that stopped vehicles in their tracks at the busy Trinity Circle on Tuesday — it was the bizarre sight of flames engulfing a car right in the middle of the busy traffic signal.

A cab driver and a passenger had a narrow escape when their vehicle caught fire, and traffic on MG road was disrupted for sometime. The police said the cab was on its way from Devarachikkanahalli to M.G. Road. At the signal, driver Adi Narayana switched off his engine, and the passenger got off. However, when he tried to switch it on, he noticed thick smoke emanating from the engine. No sooner he got out and went to check under the hood than the car was engulfed in flames. Suresh, a caretaker of Trinity Church, who rushed to the spot, said, “I thought someone might have been inside the car. But luckily there was none.”

Preliminary inquiries revealed sparks from the engine might have caused the blaze. In a statement to the police, Adi Narayana said many documents including his driving licence and vehicle documents were destroyed. The total loss is estimated to be around Rs 1 lakh.

“We have asked experts from the Forensic Science Lab to inspect the vehicle and give us a report,” a senior police officer said.