Sangar Fathulla, the owner of one of the vehicles that caught fire on Erbil's newly built 150-meter ring road blamed low-quality gasoline for the massive financial loss that he saw.
"I refilled my vehicle on Erbil's 60-meter road for 650 dinars. When I arrived there, I noticed that my vehicle was malfunctioning, and all of a sudden I heard a noise and I saw fire billowing from my car. The place was so empty. No one came to my aid. Yet, I did not have any fire extinguisher in my car."
Fathulla's vehicle was an old-model German Volkswagen Passat that he had bought for $6,000. The fire completely destroyed his vehicle and he sold the metals for $200.
According to data from Erbil's Civil Defense Department, in the course of the past two summer months, 171 vehicles caught fire and were completely destroyed across the Erbil province.
"The key factor is low-quality gasoline... The second factor is modifications when they [drivers] make to the electrical system of their vehicles including installing Ipad and decorations that they add. These factors all lead to fires," said Sarkawt Karash, spokesperson of the Erbil Civil Defense Department.
One governmental and three trade petrol types are sold in the Kurdistan Region with their lowest octane level set at 89, according to regulations issued by relevant authorities of the KRG.
"When petrol prices go up, fraud increases and their qualities are tampered with. However, our committees continue monitoring those gas stations that sell low-quality gasoline. We will close them down and reveal their names to the public," Omed Khoshnaw, Erbil governor, told Rudaw.
None of the three vehicles that caught fire on Monday resulted in human losses.
People normally gather on the scene of car fire accidents and donate money in a bid to alleviate their financial losses, which was also the case on Monday.
Erbil province has recently been hard hit by a fuel crisis causing long queues of vehicles before petrol stations with authorities repeatedly promising to resolve the matter at hand.
