Mumbai: North bound traffic on the coastal road was shut for sometime as a precautionary measure after smoke entered the coastal road tunnel following a minor fire under a promenade slab near the Parsi gate, Marine drive on the coastal road at around 7.10 pm. According to civic officials, there is a space under the promenade slab portion, where garbage washes in during high tide. “Drug addicts use this space and they may have thrown a lit match stick, which caused the fire. The fire was minor, but a lot of smoke was created, which entered the coastal road tunnel. Motorists informed the Police after witnessing smoke entering the tunnel. The Police in turn informed the fire brigade and traffic was shut for about half an hour. It was the Police, which decided to shut traffic as a precautionary measure,” said a civic official. The fire brigade came in and extinguished the fire in about 15-20 minutes. “Garbage and plastic bags had caught fire, which we extinguished,” said a fire brigade official. Traffic on the northbound tunnel was restored at 8.10 pm. However, motorists said that a traffic congestion was witnessed till Nariman Point, after the tunnel was shut.
