Petrol tank explodes

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32802, 30 December 1971, Page 1

Petrol tank explodes

Five young persons scrambled from a burning car (shown) on the Summit Road yesterday, seconds before the petrol tank exploded, engulfing the whole vehicle in flames that reduced it to a charred ruin within five minutes.

The driver, Mr G. A. Quirke, of New Brighton, suffered minor bums to his right atm, and a young woman suffered slight cuts to her feet. The three other passengers, two women and a youth, escaped unhurt. The group had stopped to take a photograph. Mr Quirke said he thought the fire must have started when a match was dropped on to the floor. There must have been petrol on the mat because the whole interior seemed to burst into flames. “We got out smartly and ran across the road. There was an explosion and flames shot nigh into the air. We couldn’t do a thing,” he said. The mishap occurred near Castle Rock, above Heathcote Valley. A resident who saw the pall of black smoke notified a Tunnel Road Authority officer who called the fire brigade and police. The resident then drove up to the Summit Road where he found the five occupants sitting on the verge looking dejectedly at their still smouldering vehicle. A unit from the Woolston Fire Station and a police patrol car from Lyttelton arrived a short time later. The firemen extinguished the still burning tyres and a small grass fire that had started on the side of the road. Mr Quirke said he and a friend had decided to take three Australian girls, who are in New Zealand on a working holiday, on a sightseeing trip around the Port Hills. They lost some clothing in the blaze. Was the car insured? “I don’t know it belonged to my brother and he is in the North Island on holiday," said Mr Quirke.