[SantaGanstag]

Twenty eight people were charred to death and 25 injured when a mystery fire engulfed their S-11 compartment of the New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express near Nellore early Monday morning.

Many of the victims were Chennai-based software engineers who had boarded the train in its two halts in AP at Vijay awada and Warangal.

Sources said that most of the victims were sleeping and lost consciousness as thick smoke filled the compartment, which was tightly shuttered due to the rain outside.

The fire spread rapidly through the compartment, claiming its victims so quickly that no one had time to react. Most of the survivors were those whose seats were near the exits. There were more than 72 passengers in the compartment, the fifth from the rear, which was the only one affected.

While an initial probe indicated that the fire in the coach might have started due to short-circuit, officials are not ruling out sabotage. In Kolkata, Union rail minister Mukul Roy suggested as much, saying, “A gateman at one of the level crossings near Nellore station heard a loud sound when the fire occurred in the coach.“

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The fire was noticed a few minutes after the train crossed Nellore station at about 4.20 am. A gateman at the Vijaya mahal Gate noticed the fire and alerted the Nellore station master who signalled the train to halt.

Slum-dwellers of nearby Rammoorthynagar were the first to reach the spot and help take the injured to hospitals in autorickshaws even before the ambulances arrived. Firefighting units reached the spot in half-an-hour, by which time many passengers had succumbed to smoke and the flames.

Mr D. Rama Sudhakar, branch manager of United India Insurance in Visakhapatnam, who was in Berth No. 7, said that he and some passengers pulled the chain soon after noticing the smoke and fire. Officials hailed him a hero and credited Mr Sudhakar with saving as many as 20 passengers. A high-level statutory inquiry into the incident was ordered by the railways; it will be conducted by commissioner for railway safety D. ner for rail K. Singh. M Though some passengers from Tamil Nadu had a miraculous escape from the burning train, they were still inconsolable or worried about ‘missing’ family/friends.

Ms N.S. Veena, 30, going to her native city Madurai to attend a function, survived along with her year-old son Koushik, but was weeping inconsolably in the hospital bed at D.S.R. government hospital here as her husband Venkatesh Babu and 3-year-old son Harshith are missing.

She suffered burns while searching for them with Koushik on her shoulder. Co-passengers Elangovan, Yuvaraj and his wife Priya of Guindy, Chennai, not only helped her to alight but also joined her in the hospital and took care of Koushik till her relatives arrived from Madurai in the evening. Ms Veena was seen asking everyone who approached her for details whether they had seen her husband and child.

A resident of Kolathur, in Chennai, Ms D. Rekha and her nephew Anil, sleeping in berth No 5 and 8 in S-11, had a narrow escape. Anil said he noticed smoke all around

the compartment when he woke up due to breathlessness and jumped out through S-10 compartment. He returned with the help of a passenger, who had a torch, when he heard Ms Rekha shouting for help, and rescued her though not before she suffered burns.
Mr P. Koteswar Rao, working in HCL, Chennai, had boarded the train at Vijayawada, and also suffered burn injuries.

A.Hussiani, a cooperative sub-registrar at Tenkasi, suffered burns while rushing out. He is worried about his missing colleague Jagannathan working in Sankarankovil, Tirunelveli. “We went for training to Delhi and were returning home,” he explained.

Source: Deccan Chronicle