RailEnquiry

A mysterious fire in two coaches of Falaknuma Passenger train from Hyderabad to Solapur stationed in Gulbarga railway station killed two unidentified persons and injured at least six persons on Tuesday afternoon. According to eye witness accounts, the fire was first noticed in one of the coaches after a loud ‘thud-like’ sound and it spread immediately to the next bogie and within minutes the ferocity of the fire reduced both the coaches to skeletons and only mangled steel remained inside these coaches.

The railway and civil police, who joined hands with the Fire and Emergency Services personnel to put down the fire after a relentless fight for more than 45 minutes, recovered two completely charred bodies and search is on for other victims, if any, in the two bogies. Police say that from the appearance of the charred remains of the two bodies recovered from the fully burnt bogies of the Falaknuma Express, it appeared that it belonged to a woman and a small child. The train coming from Hyderabad had arrived in Gulbarga railway station at 1.45 p.m. and was stationed on platform No. 3 and was scheduled to leave for Solapur at 4.45 p.m.

The fire was noticed few minutes after the arrival of the train. Railway personnel disconnected the two affected coaches from the rest of the train and limited the damage.

Fortunately, all the coaches of the train were nearly empty when the accident happened and there were hardly 10 to 12 persons inside the two coaches when the fire was first noticed, according to eye witness accounts. Gopal Hanumanth Guttedar, a fish merchant hailing from Maharashtra, who escaped with burn injuries in his hands and legs told The Hindu from his hospital bed that he along with his wife Chennamma and grandson Santosh were having their lunch in the compartment when he noticed the fire.

“Prior to the outbreak of fire, we noticed six youngsters who got into the train in Gulbarga station prancing around with a jeans-clad young girl….I pulled them up for creating nuisance. I do not know whether they were carrying any liquor bottle or any other substance……all I heard was a thud like sound before the fire was noticed.”

“After we came out of the train, we did not see these youngsters or the girl in the scene,” Mr. Gopal and his wife, Chennamma, said.

Inquiry ordered

The Central Railways has ordered an inquiry into the mysterious fire .

M.N. Patil, member of the Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee, announced ex gratia payment of Rs. 1 lakh each to the families of the two victims, Rs. 50,000 ex-gratia payment each for persons who sustained serious burns, and Rs. 5,000 each for those who sustained minor injuries.