Authorities say nine people died on Saturday in a fire in a train carriage that was stopped at a railway station in South India.
The fire, which also injured another 20 people, broke out at 5 a.m. (Friday around 11:30 p.m. in Lisbon) and lasted for two hours.
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9 killed and 20 injured after fire breaks out on tourist train near Madurai pic.twitter.com/n9WNqDBh7V
– देशभक्त (@Kamalakar_7777) August 26, 2023
The fire started in a private compartment of a train that broke loose and became immobilized on the tracks, at Madurai station, located in the state of Tamil Nadu, according to a statement from the Southern Railway.
The accident was caused by a gas cylinder clandestinely placed in the carriage by some passengers, a statement said, adding that police and firefighters helped remove the bodies.
Southern Railway did not disclose how many people were in the carriage, but said many managed to get out.
Accidents are common on India’s rail network, one of the largest in the world, handling about 22 million passengers a day. Most accidents and fires are due to poor maintenance and human error.
In June, a deadly train collision killed more than 290 people in one of India’s worst rail accidents.
Source: DN
