KOTHACHERUVU, India (AP) —
A fire engulfed a coach of an express train in southern India on
Saturday, killing at least 26 passengers, many of whom became trapped
and suffocated after the doors failed to open, officials said.
As the inferno
and thick black smoke raced through the car at about 3:45 a.m., panicked
passengers broke the windows and many saved themselves by jumping from
the train.
Sixty-seven
passengers were in the carriage when the fire broke out about 2
kilometers (1 mile) from the small town of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh
state, said railways spokesman C.S. Gupta.
The
train was brought to a halt and the burning coach was delinked from the
rest of the cars to prevent the fire from spreading, Gupta said.
The fire spread to a second coach, but the blaze was put out before it caused much damage, Gupta said.
Firefighters
put out the blaze in the burning coach and retrieved at least 26
bodies, including two children, said a railway official at the site of
the fire. More than a dozen people were brought to hospitals with
injuries sustained when they jumped from the train, the official said on
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the
media.
Firefighters had to force the doors open and make their way through the smoke-filled coach to reach the dead, the official said.
Many bodies were found near the jammed doors, he said.
Medical teams carried out autopsies to identify the bodies, many of which were charred beyond recognition.
The train was traveling from Bangalore to Nanded in the western state of Maharashtra.
Railways
Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said preliminary reports from the site
indicated that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit. An
investigation was underway.
Accidents
are common on India's railroad network, one of the world's largest,
with some 18 million passengers daily. Most collisions and fires are
blamed on poor maintenance and human error.
7:17 PM
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