20230601 Kerala: Fire breaks out in Alappuzha-Kannur Express, one coach gutted, no casualties reported
India Jun 01 2023 “Automobile & Railway”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Kerala: Fire breaks out in Alappuzha-Kannur Express, one coach gutted, no casualties reported
Updated: 2023-06-01
KOZHIKODE: A coach of the Alappuzha-Kannur Express train, which was halted at the yard of the Kannur railway station, was totally gutted after it caught fire at around 1.30am on Thursday.
The fire broke out in the third coach, a general compartment, which was third from the rear end of the train.
According to railway officials, the train had ended its trip at the station at 11.07pm and after the passengers disembarked the train was shifted to the yard. There were no casualties in the incident.
It was railway porters who first noticed the smoke coming out of the coach and informed the station authorities and soon the fire and rescue services department were alerted. Three fire tenders reached the spot. The firefighting operation went on for around one hour before it was fully extinguished at around 2.40am.
Railways ADRM Shakeer Hussain, who inspected the spot, said that Railways has provided a preliminary report and the reason for the fire can be ascertained only after an investigation by the police and forensic examination. He said that the engine had been delinked and the doors and windows of the coaches were closed.
However, railway officials at the Kannur railway station in their preliminary comments did not rule out chances of arson saying that the fire spread inside the compartment instantaneously.
The same train had witnessed arson on April 2 after Shaheen Bagh native Shahrukh Saifi set fire on several passengers inside the D1 compartment of the train near Elathur in Kozhikode after splashing petrol on them following which three passengers who jumped out of the moving train to escape the fire died.
Web Source: The Times of India