Traffic came to a standstill on the Chennai Airport flyover on Friday night after a car caught fire at around 10.30pm. All vehicles were forced to halt behind the burning hatchback, as they waited for fire services to come monitor the situation. There were however no casualties.

According to the police, the driver of the vehicle noticed smoke coming out of the car's engine and immediately got down to check what had happened. Within minutes the engine area caught fire, spreading to the rest of the vehicle's body. Videos taken at the spot show large plumes of smoke erupting from the car as the flames rose. Within minutes however, both fire tenders and police were rushed to the spot.

An eyewitness who was driving his car on the flyover told TNM that the area was cleared in half an hour.

"We were all waiting on the flyover for the fire to subside and once it came down, the police cleared the area by letting cars go through the side. We waited for thirty minutes and authorities there told us that nobody was hurt," says Raghu, a resident of West Mambalam.

Once the area was cleared and fire put out, the police towed the vehicle to the nearest police station in Meenambakkam. The reason for the fire is yet to be established. Police say that the car has been completely damaged.

Several videos and images of the fire were circulated on social media and WhatsApp on Friday night. One of the videos showed the car ablaze and a thick cloud of smoke emerging from it on top of the flyover, as the vehicle tried to navigate past it.

The video of a car on fire on the flyover to Chennai airport. No casualties, fire was doused and other vehicles allowed. ( Don't know who shot this) pic.twitter.com/A3SS3Nlvnj

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) December 15, 2018