At least 19 passengers were injured after a fire broke out in a coach of Delhi-Saharsa Vaishali Superfast Express in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah early on Thursday.
The train was travelling to Bihar’s Saharsa from Delhi when the fire was reported in the S6 coach near the pantry car around 2:30 am, said Uday Shankar, CO, Railways. It was not immediately known what caused the blaze.
Visuals from the site showed some people trying to douse the fire on the coach with buckets of water.
“The fire occurred in the coach near the pantry car. Nineteen people were injured. An investigation will take place as to why the fire broke out,” Shankar said.
Eleven people were referred to PGI due to breathing problems, Shankar added. The remaining eight others were admitted to a district hospital with minor burn injuries, he further said.
This was the second fire-related incident on a train in Etawah.
On Wednesday, three coaches of New Delhi-Darbhanga Superfast Express caught fire. A few people sustained minor injuries in the incident, officials said.
The initial probe pointed to a short circuit as the cause of the fire, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Etawah, said.
Several passengers jumped out of the train as soon as it caught on fire. According to sources, there were more passengers on the train than its capacity.