MADURAI: Nine pilgrims, including four women from Uttar Pradesh, were killed in a fire that broke out in an IRCTC tourist coach at a railway yard near the Madurai Railway Junction at 5.15 am on Saturday.
The coach with 64 passengers reached Madurai around 3 am on Saturday. A preliminary investigation suggested the fire had broken out while some passengers were making tea in the coach using a gas cylinder illegally on board.
As the fire spread in the coach, the passengers, most of whom were asleep, struggled to escape. Madurai Collector M S Sangeetha said the passengers had padlocked the doors for safety. By the time the lock on a door could be broken, nine persons had died. Eight others sustained minor injuries.
The bodies were shifted to Chennai by train. On Sunday, the remains will be airlifted to Lucknow from Chennai.
Deputy Director (Southern Region) of TN Fire and Rescue Service N Vijayakumar said some of the deceased may have died of asphyxia before being charred. “One body was retrieved from the bathroom while the body of another was found under a seat. This suggests they were trying their best to escape,” he said. Fire and rescue service personnel took over an hour to control the blaze.
Jothi Gupta, one of the survivors, said she noticed the fire and alerted fellow passengers. She was lucky to escape. Another survivor, Vijayakumar, said he left his belongings behind and ran out to save his life.