Youth saw smoke, pulled chain, saved many lives in Falaknuma train fire accident

Sigilla Raj, a youth from Chinna Mallepura, Telangana, first smelt something burning inside his bogie and thought it was because of sunlight but when he looked through window, he saw smoke. Then he screamed and pulled the chain. Had there been five to six minutes delay, a lot of damage would have been done in the Falaknuma Express fire accident, Raj told ETV Bharat.

Hyderabad (Telangana) : A young man saved lives of hundreds of passengers in the recent Falaknuma Express fire accident near Bhuvanagiri in Telangana. Sensing the danger in advance, he pulled the chain of the train and alerted the fellow passengers. Sigilla Raj who hails from Chinna Mallepura near Patapatnam, first thought burning smell was because of sunlight outside but later saw smoke and then screamed to alert others.

Raj has been living in a rented house with his family in Lakshminagar, IDA Bollaram area, for last ten years. He explained what happened that day to 'ETV Bharat'. ''We boarded the train at Palasa on the way back from my grandmother's village Parlakimidi in Odisha. I, along with my mother Parvathi, sister Pavani and grandmother Brindavati were sitting in the S4 compartment," he said.

Raj said that around 11 am on that fateful day, he was lying on the top berth and smelled like burning rubber. He thought that the heat was coming from the roof and the smell got worse, which he though was because of sunny weather outside. ''When I went down and looked through the window, there was smoke coming. I screamed immediately. Even when the chain is pulled, the train continued to run," he said.

When pulled hard for the second time, the train stopped, he said. By then, other passengers already started screaming in panic. "I informed the fire station and 108. I brought down our family members. Because the centre of danger was at our berth,'' he said.

Raj said that their three bags, cash, and equipment were burnt. He helped some fellow passengers to get down. At the same time, smoke and fire increased. "I fainted after inhaling too much smoke. They came there and shifted us to Bhuvanagiri Hospital. While receiving treatment there, I regained consciousness at 4 pm,'' he said.

''Chain was pulled in time. A delay of five or six minutes would have caused serious damage. I am feeling very low with heavy smoke inhalation and also suffering from chest pain. No officer cares for my treatment. That day I breathed a sigh of relief that nothing happened to anyone in the accident,'' Raj said.