At least nine persons are feared to be dead and five injured in a fire in a private party coach of the Punalur-Madurai Express that had halted in Madurai, on Saturday, August 26. The fire reportedly broke out around 5:15 am and was doused by 7:15 am. Rescue operations are still underway. The fire was spotted in a private party coach between platforms 5 and 6, during the early hours of Saturday morning. A press release by Southern Railway says that passengers had ‘smuggled’ cooking gas onto the train and were cooking when the cylinder suddenly exploded. It has been confirmed that the fire was contained and did not spread to the other compartments.
#Madurai Train fire.. pic.twitter.com/4mQUEUFdc9
— SUBRAMANIAN.R (@subukarthik18) August 26, 2023
Two of the deceased have been identified as Sapdaman Singh (64) and Mithileshwari (65) from Uttar Pradesh. At least five persons have sustained injuries. The train had arrived at the station at around 3.47 am and the private coach was detached from the train and kept at Madurai Stabling line. “Many passengers had gotten out of the coach on noticing fire. Some passengers had gotten down at the platform itself,” a release from the railway department said.
“The party coaches had started their journey from Lucknow on August 17, and were scheduled to return to Chennai on Sunday by the Kollam to Chennai Ananthapuri express. They were scheduled to return to Lucknow from Chennai.,” the release added.
VIDEO | Several killed after a fire broke out in a tourist train parked on Bodi Lane near Madurai railway station in the wee hours of Saturday. pic.twitter.com/z6EMz4xsXn
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 26, 2023
“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,” stated the press release.
The Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Additional Divisional Railway Manager and other senior officials are at the site and the General Manager is expected to arrive shortly.