Driver dies in electric vehicle fire after collision: why couldn't he escape?

[Anchor]

Yesterday (10.10), a fire broke out in an electric vehicle that crashed into a road barrier in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, resulting in the driver's death.

However, the deceased driver was found in the back seat, and the police are investigating why he could not escape.

Reporter Won Dong-hee has the details.

[Report]

Thick black smoke is seen between vehicles, and soon a Tesla vehicle that crashed into the road barrier appears.

The vehicle is engulfed in massive flames.

[Im Hye-bin/Witness: "There was a lot of smoke, so I wondered what it was, and then I saw the Tesla burning fiercely. All the windows were shattered."]

The accident occurred around 5:40 PM yesterday.

The Tesla vehicle crashed into the barrier, and a fire broke out immediately after the accident.

The large flames were extinguished within 10 minutes, but the driver could not escape the vehicle and found dead in the back seat.

The police and fire authorities suspect, based on the witness's statement, that the driver attempted to move to the back seat to escape but failed.

[Fire Official/Voice Altered: "It is presumed that the driver could not escape from inside..."]

The vehicle that caught fire was a Tesla Model Y.

The vehicle's doors open by pressing a button, but if the power supply is cut off, the button does not work.

[Kim Pil-soo/Professor at Daelim University's Future Automotive Department: "(In the case of Tesla) if the power goes out, the back door does not open at all. The thought that pulling the handle will open it is what people think in an emergency."]

The police are investigating the circumstances of the accident, keeping various possibilities open regarding why the driver could not escape, in addition to the vehicle's characteristics.

The police plan to request a detailed analysis of the Tesla vehicle from the National Forensic Service.

This is KBS News, Won Dong-hee.