Title - ‘Crackers caused TN Express fire’

New Delhi: Accidental igniting of crackers on board the Tamil Nadu Express caused the fire that claimed 32 lives and injured 28 people in July this year, said official sources on Thursday. “The fire was caused due to accidental igniting of crackers being carried in the S-11 coach of the train,” said the preliminary inquiry report submitted by Commissioner Railway Safety (South Central Circle) Dinesh Kumar Singh to the railway ministry. The report has absolved the railway staff in the fire incident which occurred in the early hours July 30 in New Delhi-Chennai Tamil Nadu Express at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. “The unusual occurrence falls under the category of failure of persons other than railway staff,” said the report. —IANS