SINGAPORE - A car caught fire at a block of flats in Tampines on Saturday (Nov 25) evening, with residents gathering in shock as sounds of "explosion" emanated from the vehicle, an eyewitness told The Straits Times.

Mr Gary Haris, 43, was attending a funeral wake nearby when he heard a loud explosion at Block 492A, Tampines Street 45, at 5.55pm.

"We saw a Mercedes-Benz car on fire," he said. "I called the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the police, and asked residents to move away. After that, the car gave off another very loud explosion sound and the fumes rose very high."

He added that petrol began to leak onto the road.

"Around 6.10pm, SCDF arrived and put out the fire in about six minutes," said Mr Haris.

Photos and videos he posted on Facebook show plumes of smoke rising from the vehicle.

"There were about 20 residents at the scene at first, but after three continuous explosions (more people) panicked and ran down," he said. "There were about 100 to 200 of them."

Mr Haris said he did not think there were any injuries.

The driver of the vehicle, who appeared to be in his 60s, was at the scene, and the driver's door was open, he said.

The driveway has been cordoned off and "no one can exit", said Mr Haris, who is a senior business development manager in the security industry.

The police said in a Facebook post at 6.41pm that a car caught fire along the service road of Blk 491H Tampines Street 45 at 5.53pm.

"The fire was extinguished by the Singapore Civil Defence Force. There are no injuries and the cause of the fire is being investigated," it said.

SCDF said it put out the vehicle on fire with two water jets. Police and SCDF officers were on the scene around 7pm.