A car caught fire inside the newly built airport tunnel on the Gurugram-Dwarka Expressway on Monday, triggering a major emergency that filled the tunnel with thick black smoke, disrupted traffic for nearly two hours and forced the evacuation of vehicles trapped inside.

The occupants managed to get out of the vehicle in time, and no injuries were reported. The incident took place when the car suddenly caught fire while passing through the tunnel. Within minutes, dense smoke spread across the tunnel, sharply reducing visibility and creating panic among motorists travelling towards Delhi and the airport.

Fire suppression systems installed inside the tunnel were automatically activated as soon as the blaze erupted, preventing the fire from spreading further.

However, when The Tribune contacted the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), officials said they had not received any information about the incident.

Despite the emergency response system, smoke quickly accumulated inside the tunnel. As a precaution, the police stopped all vehicles outside the tunnel and barred fresh entry until the situation was brought under control.

The police then safely guided vehicles that were already inside the tunnel out, evacuating motorists one by one amid low visibility caused by the smoke.

The emergency response disrupted traffic on the Dwarka Expressway, with long queues of vehicles building up on the Delhi-bound carriageway. Office-goers and passengers heading towards the airport were among those caught in the congestion.

To clear the tunnel, exhaust fans were operated at full capacity to remove the smoke. Traffic was restored in phases only after the tunnel was declared safe, around two hours after the incident.

Initial findings and eyewitness accounts suggest the fire may have been caused by a technical fault in the engine or a short circuit.