Tense moments prevailed at the cargo complex, in the Chennai International Airport in India, on the 23rd of November, when a Lamborghini LP-560-4, waiting for loading on to an Emirates airlines cargo plane, caught fire.
Sources said the car was on a trolley when the mishap occurred around 6.30am IST.The engine was gutted.
Airport officials said the car (EX 431 GK), which was brought from Milan, Italy, for a a special trackday event at the Madras Motor Sports Club’s track at Chennai last month. Five such cars had been brought for the show.
While the Airports Authority of India and the airline claimed that a little smoke had emerged from the car and that it had not caught fire, the police said that the engine of the car had been completely destroyed in the fire.
Sources said that two Lamborghini cars had been brought to the airport on Sunday evening to be taken to Milan, via Dubai on an Emirates cargo flight.
One of the cars had half a tank of fuel. Staff at the air cargo complex allegedly kept the vehicle idling throughout the previous night, after instructions from the manufacturer, to burn the fuel as cars can be loaded on to an aircraft only with an empty fuel tank.
A senior AAI official said: “The smoke activated fire sprinklers inside the cargo complex. AAI had handed over the car to the airline for loading and it was in the air cargo complex when the accident happened.”
However, the reason for the fire is not known. “We will investigate the reason behind the accident because it could have turned into a major disaster if the smoke was not put out by the fire sprinkler system. Other consignments would also have caught fire,” he added.
An automobile expert said, “Lamborghini cars are supposed to be driven fast. The engine gets heated quickly and the cooling system works only when the car is moving at a high speed. Keeping the engine idling for a long time will heat it up. It is also possible that the car might have been manoeuvred at slow speeds inside the cargo area for loading.”
Lamborghini Trackday event in Chennai, India:
via: Team-BHP.com
2 comments
Very sad to hear that such a car got burnt at Chennai, due to either negligence, or ignorance. However, from the picture i understand that it did not blast causing further damage or colossal destruction at the airport. Airport authorities or logistic people who handle the shipment of those car should take extra care to prevent the recurrence of the same. THAMBAN THOMAS – DUBAI
I want to buy this car,