Thaindian News

Mumbai/Bhopal/Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Passengers of three coaches of the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express which caught fire near Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam town early Monday, had a miraculous escape with only one traveller sustaining minor injuries in the incident.

The train reached New Delhi safely at around 3 p.m. The passengers were all praise for the prompt action by the train driver who by stopping the train immediately after the blaze was noticed prevented a major tragedy.

The fire is believed to have started in the pantry car at around 3 a.m. Monday near Thuriya station in Ratlam, some 200 km from Bhopal, a Western Railway (WR) official said. The cause is yet to be ascertained.

“As the train was speeding, the fire spread to two adjoining coaches - B6 and B7. The pantry car was gutted by the time the train stopped,” the official said.

Railway officials quickly detached the three burning coaches to prevent the fire from spreading.

Senior railway officials and a medical team rushed to the site. A passenger was injured while helping others evacuate from the blazing coaches.

“Three coaches of the train (12951) caught fire and were burnt completely. However, all passengers are safe and the train resumed its journey to New Delhi via Kota in Rajasthan,” Ratlam collector Rajendra Sharma told IANS. Ratlam comes under Kota railway division.

When the train reached New Delhi, both the passengers and their waiting relatives breathed a sigh of relief.

“I saw smoke and I picked up my luggage and shouted to other passengers to run. The driver immediately stopped the train and we came out before the fire could spread. The driver took a correct decision and stopped the train else the blaze could have been massive,” said one of the passengers.

Another passenger, Garima Jindal said: “We were fast asleep at night and then suddenly someone came and announced that a fire has broken out. Initially we thought he was joking but then everybody started running.”

“It was really scary and a horrible experience of my life. The pantry people came shouting that fire has broken out. We came out and also helped other passengers,” said another passenger.