This 2016 Ford Ranger was gutted by fire on 1 July after an overheating issue caused the four-wheel drive to catch alight on the Mulligan Highway approximately two kilometres north-west of Mount Carbine. Photo: Lyndon Keane.
A motorist had a lucky escape from injury after their vehicle was destroyed by fire north-west of Mount Carbine on 1 July.
The red 2016 Ford Ranger is believed to have been travelling from Cooktown on Monday morning when it began to repeatedly overheat on the Mulligan Highway.
Less than two kilometres from the town at about 12:40pm, the male driver noticed smoke and flames coming from the vicinity of the engine bay, at which point he turned off the highway and onto the Mount Carbine cemetery road and exited the vehicle before it became fully engulfed.
The man was uninjured in the incident, but the dual cab four-wheel drive was obliterated by the fire.
A witness told Cape York Weekly the vehicle “didn’t take long to fully go up”.
“The bloke saw the smoke and that coming from the Ranger, so he’s pulled off the highway and gone down the cemetery road where he’s ditched it,” they explained.
“By the time he was a bit away from it, it was totally on fire.
“After that, he got in another car with, we think, his son, and they just drove off.
“He’d had to stop on the side of the road a few times on the way down [from Cooktown] because the thing kept getting hot on him.”
It is understood the burnt out vehicle will be removed this week.
The fire completely destroyed the vehicle, however, the driver was not injured in the incident. Photo: Lyndon Keane.
