Couple flee car blaze
A SHOCKED couple had a lucky escape after leaping from their car seconds before it burst into flames at a busy business park yesterday afternoon.
Jose Moderno and his 31-yearold girlfriend, Anna Nunes had been driving in their Seat Leon in Western Road, North Harbour, Portsmouth, when they heard an ominous noise coming from the car’s engine.
The pair pulled into the Lakeside
business complex to investigate but within seconds were forced to flee as flames engulfed their motor.
Speaking to The News as his car burned in the background, a horrified Jose, 37, said: ‘I could hear this noise coming from my engine so I drove off the main road into here.
‘I stopped to try and see what it was and a taxi driver stopped and said ‘your car is on fire mate, get out, get out!’.
‘It came from nowhere. In five minutes my car was in flames. It was quite scary. It was so dangerous.’
Firefighters from Cosham were at the scene within minutes, arriving at about 1.40pm, and rapidly extinguished the blaze.
But the fire had ravaged the 16-year-old five-door hatchback, leaving it gutted.
Jose added he was devastated by the loss, having recently forked out hundreds of pounds for four new tyres.
Staff from Lakeside stopped traffic from entering or leaving the site as fire crews dealt with the incident.
Jose praised the firefighters for their efforts in putting out the blaze. He added: ‘They were here so quickly. They did an amazing job.’