9 dead, 20 injured in Madurai train coach fire, Railway says "illegal cylinder" caused blaze
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Madurai: At least 9 people were killed and 20 others injured in a fire that broke out inside a stationary train compartment in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai railway station on Saturday.
Southern Railway authorities said that a gas cylinder, which was illegally smuggled inside the coach for cooking purposes, led to the blaze.
The incident occurred on the Lucknow-Rameswaram Express in the early hours of Saturday morning, when the train was stationed at a yard, 1 km out of the Madurai railway station and passengers were about to leave for the Meenakshi temple for darshan.
Police, fire and rescue services personnel besides railway staff, involved in dousing the fire, extricated the charred bodies from the compartment. The fire broke out at 5.15 am on Saturday and the Fire service personnel who arrived at the spot half an hour later put down the blaze by 7.15 am, the Southern Railway release said.
"This is a private party coach that was attached at Nagercoil Junction yesterday (Aug 25) by train no. 16730 (Punalur-Madurai Exp). The party coach was detached and kept at the Madurai Stabling line. The passengers in the private party coach had illegally smuggled a gas cylinder and this caused the fire. Many passengers got out of the coach after noticing the fire. Some passengers had got down at the platform itself," the release said.
"The party coach had started the journey from Lucknow on August 17. They are scheduled to return to Chennai tomorrow and return to Lucknow from there," it added.
Any individual can book a party coach using the IRCTC portal. They are not allowed to carry any inflammable material like gas cylinders. The coach is to be used only for transportation purposes, the release said.
Meanwhile, Madurai district Collector M S. Sangeetha told media persons that the injured have been shifted to the hospitals and treatment is underway. She also said that the cause of the fire will be further probed.
Out of the 20 injured persons, four are said to be in serious condition.
With inputs from agencies