LUCKNOW: In a railway mishap, at least nine passengers including a minor sustained burn injuries following an inferno in three coaches including a parcel and sleeper of Darbhanga Express (02570) while passing through Sarai Bhupat railway station in Etawah district on Wednesday evening.
New Delhi - Darbhanga Clone Special Express was immediately brought to a halt as it was jam-packed with passengers mostly heading home to attend Chhath Puja for the weekend.
According to a source, passengers were screaming for help and waving frantically from the window to stop the train, due to smoke filling inside the S1 coach. The deputy station superintendent of Sarai Bhupat railway station, Nagendra Yadav Singh, who was standing with a green flag to signal a clear route, spotted the distressed passengers as well as the smoke bellowing from the coach.
He immediately informed the onboard train staff, including the guard and loco pilots, to halt the train. Following this the train guard immediately applied the emergency brake and the overhead power supply was stopped.
As soon as the train halted, passengers started jumping out of the sleeper coach. The railway authorities called for the fire brigade which reached the spot by 5:47 pm and doused the flames. Four ambulances also reached the spot at 5:55 pm to transfer the injured passengers to Etawah District Hospital.
According to Etawah Chief Medical Officer Dr Geetaram, nine passengers had suffered injuries including burns and all were being treated in the burn ward of the district hospital.
Injured passengers were identified as Kanchan, Harendra, Akriti, Manoj Chppal, Raunak Raj, Dayanand, and Sunita Devi; all hailing from Darbhanga district of Bihar. Chief public relations officer of North Central Railway zone, Himanshu Shekhar Upadhya said, “Fortunately no casualty happened in the incident. A detailed probe will be done to find out what caused the fire.”