Twenty-six persons, including two children were roasted alive when an AC coach of Nanded bound Bangalore-Nanded Express train caught fire near Kothacheruvu in the district in the early hours of Saturday. Thirteen others were also suffered severe burns.
According to the information, fire broke out in the AC 3-tier coach B-1 near Sri Satya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam railway station at 3.10 am when most of the passengers were fast asleep. On noticing the fire, the driver stopped the train near Kothacheruvu railway tunnel and the burning coach was immediately detached, preventing the fire from spreading to other bogies. Railway officials said there were 62 commuters including 21 elders and two children and 26 others were miraculously escaped from the fire.
Police said the injured have been shifted to various hospitals and some of them to Bangalore. The exact cause of the fire is not immediately known. Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said there could be two reasons — one is short circuit and the other presence of inflammable material in the ill-fated coach.
On receipt of the information, district Collector Lokesh Kumar rushed to the spot and supervised the rescue and relief operations. Union minister of State for Railways Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, Revenue minister N. Raghuveera Reddy, MPs Anantarami Reddy, Nimmala Kistappa and several MLAs visited the spot and enquired about the incident.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh expressed shock over the ghastly incident and directed Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge to order an inquiry and ensure better medical treatment to the injured. Describing the incident as “tragic and most unfortunate”, Kharge ordered an inquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety. The Railway Minister also announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 1 lakh in case of grievous injuries and Rs 50,000 for simple injuries.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, Union Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi, PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana and several others expressed grief over the tragedy.
Forensic teams were rushed to the spot from Hyderabad to collect samples for DNA analysis. DGP B. Prasada Rao said preliminary reports indicate that the cause of the fire was electrical short-circuit near the Air-Conditioning Unit.
The 16-coach train reportedly left Bengaluru at 10.45 pm on Friday night. An Emergency Control Room, manned by senior railway officials, was opened at Rail Nilayam to closely monitor the situation and coordinate the various activities from SCR side. The SCR has set up Help Line Numbers at the following railway stations to disseminate information to the public: Secunderabad, 040-7700868, 09701371060; Vikarabad 08416-52215, 09701371081;Tandur 8411 272010; Sedam 08441-276066, 07760998338; Bidar 08482-26404, 07760998400; Dharmavaram 08559-222555 ;Guntakal 08552 20305, 09701364965; Anantapur 09491221390; Parli 02446 222008 , 08790993329; Udgir 02385 256022; Latur Road 02381- 258044 ; Malkhaid Road 08441 287499; Chittapur 08474 236122 ; Nanded 09730471954, 09890127761; Bhalki 08484 262209. (NSS)