Man burns to death in car as onlookers film the incident instead of rescuing him
A 53-year-old businessman was charred to death after getting trapped inside his car which had caught fire on Wednesday.
The horrific incident, which took place in Rajasthan, India, was witnessed by passersby who began to record the incident on their mobile phones instead of trying to rescue him.
The man's body was completely charred in the accident rendering it unidentifiable. He was later identified as Premchand Jain on the basis of the car's number plate. He was a resident of Riddhi-Siddhi Enclave in Kunhari area of Kota city in Rajasthan.
According to eyewitnesses, Jain was on his way to Anantpura area of the city to his factory on Wednesday at 10 am when his car broke down on the highway. He managed to start the car and drove it barely a few hundred meters when smoke started filling the car. Jain then tried desperately to get out but failed to do so because of the car's central locking system, said SHO at Borekheda police station Sanjay Singh.
The car then burst into flames and he was burnt to death in the middle of the road.
Assistant fire officer at KMC, Devendra Gautam, said a call was received around 10.25 am and two fire tenders were dispatched to the spot. But by the time they reached the scene of the fire, Jain's body was reduced to a skeleton.
Even more tragically, no one tried to help Jain out of the car as those who witnessed the incident were busy recording it on their phones. Gautam added that had the people attempted to rescue the man by breaking his glass down, he could have been saved.
Samples were collected for FSL and DNA tests and sent to the lab. Jain's body was handed over to his family members after postmortem, Gautam said.
An initial investigation suggested the fire was caused by a short circuit in the wiring of the car. The police have registered a case and launched an investigation into the incident.