A car caught fire near the Porte de Namur metro station in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles on Saturday evening. The police were able to rescue the driver at the last minute.
At around 23:50, police officers patrolling the Brussels-Capital Ixelles area noticed sparks coming from under a moving vehicle near the Porte de Namur, La Capitale reported.
They immediately intercepted the car, pulled the driver out of the vehicle and brought him to safety. Seconds later, the car was completely engulfed in flames. Without the rapid intervention of the officers, the incident could have been fatal.
No one was injured. The police immediately set up a security perimeter to protect bystanders and cordon off the area. The fire brigade arrived quickly to extinguish the fire and clear the road.
The Brussels public transport operator STBIB/MIVB was notified but did not need to divert its services. On Sunday morning, traffic was able to resume as normal, with the exception of the section that still needed to be cleaned.
While arson has been ruled out, the exact cause of the vehicle suddenly catching fire is still unclear.
