Nine dead as fire erupts in 'private' train coach

Nine pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh were killed and eight injured after a fire tore through a chartered train coach parked at the Madurai railway junction in Tamil Nadu early on Saturday, said officials.

- Divya Chandrababu and Aakash Ghosh

The blaze, they added, erupted after an "illegally smuggled gas cylinder" exploded as some passengers tried to make tea in the coach.

A Southern Railway official said 63 people-55 passengers and eight helpers-were aboard the coach, which was booked by a "private party" and left Lucknow on August 17. The passengers were on a pilgrimage in Rameswaram, a coastal town in Tamil Nadu's southeastern corner.

The Southern Railway said the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) will investigate the causes of the fire and identify the people responsible. The Government Railway Police, meanwhile, booked the train operator for "illegally carrying the cylinder".

The Indian Railways allows passengers to book "private coaches" on trains, at varying continued on costs, depending on the length and duration of the journey. Such a coach is then attached to various trains that help it traverse the length of its journey.

In this case, the private train was last attached to the PunalurMadras Express on Friday, reached Madurai early on Saturday morning and was then scheduled to be linked on Sunday to the Ananthapuri Express, which would take it to the Chennai Egmore station. Afterwards, it would travel to the Chennai Central station, from where it would be attached to the Lucknow Express, on which it was scheduled to return to Lucknow on August 29.

The blaze broke out around 4.30am and engulfed the non-AC, sleeper-class compartment within minutes, said officials.

As the fire began to spread, some passengers managed to force open the coach door, which had been bolted from the inside, even as noxious smoke swamped the cabin. This, said officials, allowed several people an escape route and averted an even larger tragedy. The fire was eventually put out around 7.15am.

It is still unclear if any railway officials were aboard the train.