In the early hours of Saturday, At least 9 persons died and 20 injured in a fire that broke out inside a stationary train compartment in Madurai railway station .
The passengers of the private party coach had arrived from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Madurai district collector M S Sangeetha, who rushed to the station to enquire, said 9 persons were killed in the fire accident in the train compartment. 20 others with injuries have been admitted to a hospital for treatment.
Police, fire and rescue services personnel besides railway staff, involved in dousing the fire, extricated the charred bodies from the compartment. The fire broke out at 5.15 am on Saturday and the Fire service personnel who arrived at the spot half an hour later put down the blaze by 7.15 am, a Southern Railway release said.
This is a private party coach that was attached at Nagercoil Junction yesterday (Aug 25) by train no. 16730 (Punalur-Madurai Exp). Party coach was detached and kept at Madurai Stabling line. The passengers in the private party coach have illegally smuggled gas cylinder and this has caused the fire. Many passengers had got out of the coach on noticing fire. Some passengers had got down at platform itself, the release said.