GIRIDIH: Seven passengers, including two children, were charred to death and four Australians injured when two coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Expresscaught fire in Jharkhand's Giridih district in the wee hours today.
The fire, which broke out at around 3 AM in B-1 AC coach and then spread to B-2 AC coach, was spotted between Gomo and Nimiaghat Railway stations,Railway Protection Force Divisional CommandantSashi Kumar told PTI.
"Seven persons, including two children, were charred to death after the fire broke out in an AC coach and then spread to another AC coach," he said.
Kumar said four Australian women travelling in the coach received minor injuries and have been admitted to the Railway Divisional Hospital in Dhanbad.
The four foreign research scholars were travelling to Bodh Gaya. Out of the four, two suffered from excessive smoke inhalation and other two received minor injuries, Chief Matron of the hospital M Majumdar said.
Three of the deceased have been identified as 4-year-old Archita Thakur, 8-year-old Tubi Ali Akhtar and 25-year-old Dr Anumita Singh, DRM Sudhir Kumar said.
Both the coaches have been detached from the train, which had left Howrah station last night. While one portion has been moved towards Gomo, the other has been moved to Parasnath.
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi condoled the loss of lives in the fire mishap and announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of those killed.
All other passengers in the affected B-1 and B-2 AC coaches will get Rs 25000 as immediate financial assistance for the inconvenience caused due to the fire, he said.
There were a total of 128 passengers in the two coaches. Commissioner Railway safety, eastern circle, has been asked to conduct the inquiry into the accident and submit the report at the earliest.
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Dhanbad Division), Dayanand said the railway inspection team searched the two AC bogies and found seven bodies.
"We are examining the coaches to determine the cause of the fire. We are also speaking to train passengers," he said.
Railway have set up a helpline for relatives of the passengers. The helpline numbers are; 033-26413660, 033-26402243 and 032-62220518.
Train operations on the route have been restored around 7:50 AM, officials said.Train fire mishap: Railway Minister Dinesh
Trivedi announces compensation Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi today condoled the loss of lives in the fire mishap in theHowrah-Dehradun Express and announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of those killed.
All other passengers in the affected B-1 and B-2 AC coaches will get Rs 25000 as immediate financial assistance for the inconvenience caused due to the fire, he said.
There were a total of 128 passengers in the two coaches of which seven were charred to death after fire broke out in the train in Jharkhand's Giridih district in the wee hours today.
The fire, which broke out around 3 am in B-1 AC coach and then spread to spread to B-2 AC coach, was spotted in the coach between Gomo andNimiaghat railway stations, he said.
Dhanbad DRM and a railway medical team have reached the site and catering arrangements have been made for the stranded passengers.
22 November 2011 Last updated at 10:18 GMT
India train fire kills seven in Jharkhand
The cause of the fire is unclearSeven people have been killed and at least 12 injured in a fire on a passenger train travelling in the Indian state of Jharkhand, police say.
Two coaches of the Doon Express train travelling to Dehradoon from Howrah caught fire early on Monday. The cause of the fire is still not clear.
One of the dead was an Australian woman travelling to carry out research at the Buddhist holy city of Bodh Gaya.
The incident happened when the train was passing through Giridih district.
Railway officials said rescue teams had evacuated most of the passengers.
A four-year-old girl was among the dead.
Another three Australian women, also researchers, are being treated for burns and three Russians were also reported hurt.
Heater defect?Seven bodies were recovered from the two charred coaches, a senior police official told the BBC's Salman Ravi.
TV pictures showed two air-conditioned coaches of the train in flames.
One passenger told reporters that the fire started after "somebody switched off the air-conditioning and switched on the heater".
Railway officials said rescue teams had rushed to the site, separated the burning coaches from the rest of the train, and had managed to evacuate most of the passengers.
But reporters at the site told the BBC it took more than two hours for the rescue teams to reach the train. Most passengers said they had escaped the fire on their own.
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Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian railways, an immense network connecting every corner of the country.
It operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.
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