18 burnt alive in train mishap

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, FEB. 19. At least 18 passengers were charred to death and 23 others, including three women, were injured when the Ferozepur-bound 2137-down Punjab Mail caught fire early this morning between Duskheda and Savada stations near Bhusaval, about 433 km from here. The train had departed from Mumbai at 7.10 p.m. on Friday.

While the injured were admitted to the Railway Hospital at Bhusaval, little information is available about the dead.

A railway spokesman said the charred bodies were beyond recognition even as relatives thronged the Central Railway headquarters here to make enquiries.

The railway has arranged free passage for the relatives to reach Bhusaval.

The spokesman said top railway officials, who visited the spot, had ruled out sabotage and quoted some passengers as saying that the fire was the result of a scuffle among a group of young passengers who were drinking in a compartment. A carelessly- thrown cigarette had ignited spilt liquor.

The exact cause of the mishap is still being ascertained. The spokesman said that the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Mr. S.C. Gupta, would begin his inquiry at Bhusaval tomorrow.

UNI reports from Jalgaon:

The presence of mind displayed by some college students from New Delhi helped avert further disaster as they delinked rest of the bogies from the burning bogies. A UNI correspondent, who visited the spot, said that some students from Delhi had come to Mumbai on a tour, and were returning on the ill-fated train.

One of the students, on spotting the fire, jumped out of the bogie and suffered serious injuries while the others got on the roof and delinked the effected compartment from the rest of the train. They managed to break the links between the bogies, thus averting a major mishap.

The fire had started in the S-8 coach of the train and spread to the S-3, S-4, S-5, S-6 and S-7 coaches, killing many sleeping passengers. About 15 passengers sustained injuries.

The chances of more casualties have not been ruled out. Since the bodies are badly charred, officials are facing difficulties in ascertaining the identity of the victims.

A Central Railways PRO said the Divisional Railway Manager of Bhusawal division had reached the site within an hour of the incident along with relief supplies.

A special train carrying the stranded passengers left for Ferozepur from Bhusawal at around 11.10 a.m., Central Railways sources said.

Sources said that the six burnt bogies had been brought to Bhusawal and investigations were in progress to ascertain the cause of fire.

Enquiry counters have been opened at the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus at Mumbai (telephone number 2621540), at Dadar (4110092) and at Kalyan station (911-323447).

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