PATTAYA, Thailand – A Russian driver narrowly escaped injury after his modified Mazda sedan burst into flames just moments before reaching an auto repair garage in Pattaya on Thursday evening.
At approximately 7.50 p.m. on May 22, Pattaya City firefighters received reports of a severe vehicle fire near the Chaiyapruek intersection on Sukhumvit Road inbound toward Sattahip. Emergency crews arrived to find heavy traffic congestion and crowds of shocked onlookers gathering outside a vehicle service garage where a white modified 2025 Mazda 3 was already engulfed in flames.
Residents and bystanders attempted to extinguish the blaze using chemical fire extinguishers, but the flames spread rapidly through the vehicle before firefighters arrived with two fire engines.
Crews battled the inferno for around 20 minutes before bringing the fire under control, but the car was completely destroyed. The driver, identified only as 25-year-old Russian national Alex, told police he had been driving to the garage for repairs after noticing unusual noises coming from underneath the vehicle following recent engine modifications performed at another garage in Bangkok.
According to Alex, he heard a loud explosion beneath the car just a few hundred meters before reaching the garage, followed by smoke pouring from underneath the vehicle. He managed to nurse the car to the front of the repair shop before shutting off the engine and jumping out moments before flames suddenly erupted and rapidly consumed the vehicle. Sunny, the garage manager, said Alex was a regular customer and had contacted the shop earlier complaining about strange sounds after recent engine work elsewhere.
Security camera footage captured the dramatic moment smoke began pouring from the engine bay after the vehicle stopped outside the garage. Alex was seen rushing from the car and opening the hood before flames suddenly exploded from the engine compartment within seconds. A food delivery rider who witnessed the incident also recorded part of the fire and confirmed seeing smoke billowing from the car while it was still moving along Sukhumvit Road moments before the blaze intensified. The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation.
