Title - Probe finds death figures, cause of blaze mysterious

Even as the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Dinesh Kumar Singh started his two-day statutory inquiry into the blaze that broke out aboard the Tamil Nadu Express on Monday killing 32 people, the preliminary inquiry by the Railway police has thrown some serious questions about the security arrangements as well as functioning of the railway machinery in accordance with the set rules and procedures. The inquiry has also raised doubts about the correct figure of deaths in the accident.The question that has befuddled the investigators is how the fire engulfed the entire coach in just two minutes. According to investigations, the train passed platform number 3 of Nellore station, without stopping, exactly at 4.18 am and gateman at the Vedayapalya crossing, just 2 km away from the station, saw the flames and smoke in the coach S-11.As per procedure, when a non-stop train passes through a station, two employees should watch it closely from either sides and show it the green flag. In case of the Tamil Nadu Express, record shows that a deputy superintendent on platform no. 2 and another employee on platform no. 3 monitored the train. Investigators have doubts on whether the duo did its job properly. If they did, how could the blaze have engulfed the entire coach in a matter of minutes, is a mystery with no apparent explanations as of now.

Investigators from the Railway police have also noted that three personnel of the Railway police aboard the Tamil Nadu Express did not discharge their duty of patrolling the compartments from time to time properly. All the three personnel were sitting in one coach when the fire broke out.

The investigators have also noted that two human hands were found lying in the two toilets on the side of berth no. 72. They believe that two persons were inside the toilets when the fire broke out in the compartment and they were burnt alive. They also believe that other parts of the bodies were burnt to ashes and were washed down the lavatory when the fire engines pumped water to extinguish fire. Who were these two passengers and were they not included in the list of dead passengers?

The report has also said that such burnt remains of at least nine bodies were found in the compartment and they were all bundled together. If they were counted separately, the toll of the victims will be much more than 32.

The investigators have also noted eyewitness accounts of a traveller telling everyone that a fire broke out after a tube light in the compartment exploded with a big sound. He first ran towards the exit in the direction of berth no. 72. But when he found that area engulfed in smoke, he ran in the opposite direction, where he saw some people trying to open the two doors in vain. He fled into the adjoining S-10 coach.

With many more people trying to enter the adjoining coach, two persons fell in the way further hampering the exit of other passengers. The witness said that if the two doors had opened many more passengers would have survived.

Meanwhile, of the 31 injured persons admitted to various hospitals in Nellore, seven have been discharged and 24 were still undergoing treatment. Nine of them are stated to be in a serious condition, two in very critical state. They have been identified as Sukhdev Singh of Amritsar, with 55 per cent burns and Bansal from Agra with 50 per cent burns.

So far, railway authorities have identified and handed over 19 bodies to their families. The remaining bodies will be handed over only on the basis of DNA reports, the officials said.