Madurai: At least nine persons, all undertaking religious tourism from Uttar Pradesh, were killed in a fire that was reported on board a tourist train stabled in Madurai Railway Junction, after an LPG cylinder on board exploded during the wee hours, on Saturday.
The train was carrying 65 tourists from Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow.
Preliminary investigations revealed that an illegal LPG cylinder that was on board the private coach had led to the blaze. Officials fear that the death toll may go up as at least a dozen more have suffered critical burns.
The coach was hired by a private party through IRCTC and arrived at Madurai Junction at 3.47 am from Nagercoil Junction. It was detached and was kept in the stabling line when the fire broke out at 5.15 am The party coach began their journey from Lucknow on Aug. 17 and it was scheduled to leave for Chennai by tomorrow.
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The fire tenders were informed and the fire was completely doused at 7.15 am. The fire tenders are in the process of cooling the charred coach to prevent the fire from re-igniting. A burnt cylinder and another one with LPG were also recovered from the coach.
The injured were admitted to the Government Rajaji Hospital for treatment and the police are working with the relatives of the deceased to establish the identities.
Government Railway Police and the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services Personnel are probing the cause of the fire.
Tamil Nadu Minister of Commercial Taxes and Registration P Moorthy, and District Collector M.S. Sangeetha inspected the accident site and took stock of the incident. The Collector sharing the inputs with her chief at the State Secretariat and the same will be shared with Chief Minister MK Stalin, who is on a tour in Delta districts.
Moorthy spoke to the media on the sidelines of his accident spot visit and said the death toll has climbed to nine. He also expressed his fear that it may go up further.
Top railway officials from the Madurai Division and the District Administration have visited the spot and the injured in the hospital. Railways has assured that it would provide all possible assistance to the injured in the accident.
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"The following two helpline numbers are provided at the site to share the information related to the fire incident and causalities 9360552608/8015681915," Railways said in a short statement.
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MADURAI JUNCTION FIRE INCIDENT : HELP LINE NUMBERS
— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) August 26, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
The following two help line numbers are provided at the site to share the information related to the
fire incident and causalities
9360552608
8015681915
">MADURAI JUNCTION FIRE INCIDENT : HELP LINE NUMBERS
— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) August 26, 2023
The following two help line numbers are provided at the site to share the information related to the
fire incident and causalities
9360552608
8015681915MADURAI JUNCTION FIRE INCIDENT : HELP LINE NUMBERS
— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) August 26, 2023
The following two help line numbers are provided at the site to share the information related to the
fire incident and causalities
9360552608
8015681915
Southern Railways and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adiytanath announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh and Rs two lakh respectively, for the kin of the deceased. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced an ex-gratia of Rs three lakh for the kin of the deceased.
Stalin wrote on X site, formerly known as Twitter, "Deeply saddened by the tragic incident near Madurai Railway junction where nine precious lives were lost in a train fire accident. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the deceased. To support the affected families, an ex-gratia of 3 lakh INR will be provided. I have instructed Hon'ble Minister @pmoorthy21 and officials to ensure that the injured receive the highest quality treatment. All measures will be taken to transport the mortal remains of the deceased to their hometowns.
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Deeply saddened by the tragic incident near Madurai Railway junction where nine precious lives were lost in a train fire accident. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the deceased. To support the affected families, an ex-gratia of 3 lakh INR will be provided.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 26, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
I…
">Deeply saddened by the tragic incident near Madurai Railway junction where nine precious lives were lost in a train fire accident. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the deceased. To support the affected families, an ex-gratia of 3 lakh INR will be provided.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 26, 2023
I…Deeply saddened by the tragic incident near Madurai Railway junction where nine precious lives were lost in a train fire accident. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the deceased. To support the affected families, an ex-gratia of 3 lakh INR will be provided.
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 26, 2023
I…
