Madurai (TN): At least nine pilgrims bound for Rameswaram died on Saturday when a fire broke out inside a stationary train compartment at the railway station here in the small hours of Saturday, the Southern Railway said. It also said a gas cylinder “illegally” taken inside the coach led to the blaze.
They had embarked on the pilgrimage from Lucknow last week in a private party coach, and most of them hailed from the Uttar Pradesh capital and its nearby areas. Six of the nine deceased have been identified. They were three men and women each.
According to one of the survivors, only after a locked door was broken open could many even run toward safety, possibly avoiding a bigger tragedy. While the Southern Railway initially put the toll at 10, it later revised it to nine. About 20 people were undergoing medical treatment here.
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Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi condoled the deaths and wished for the safety and speedy recovery of the injured. Chief Ministers of TN and Uttar Pradesh, M K Stalin and Yogi Adityanath, besides their West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, expressed anguish over the incident and condoled the deaths. Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and the Railways announced ex-gratia to the families of the victims.
The fire broke out at 5.15 am on Saturday and Fire service personnel who arrived at the spot half an hour later put down the blaze by 7.15 am, a Southern Railway release said. “This is a private party coach that was attached at Nagercoil Junction yesterday (Aug 25) by train no. 16730 (Punalur-Madurai Exp).
The party coach was detached and kept at the Madurai Stabling line. The passengers in the private party coach have…smuggled gas cylinder and this has caused the fire,” the release said. The party coach had started the journey from Lucknow on August 17, scheduled to return to Chennai on Sunday and proceed to the UP capital from there on, it added.
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