UP 19 injured as sleeper coach of Vaishali Express catches fire

Nineteen people were injured when a sleeper coach of Vaishali Express between Delhi and Saharsa caught fire in Friends Colony area of Etawah district here in Uttar Pradesh, Government Railway Police (GRP) sources said here on Thursday.

GRP sources said that the incident took place around 2:30 am on Wednesday night when the toilet of S6 coach of Vaishali Express caught fire. "This led to panic among the passengers during which 19 people were injured," they said.

Sources said that the injured were taken to the district hospital from where 11 passengers having problem in breathing were referred to Medical University in Saifai. "Remaining 8 passengers are being treated at the district hospital," they said.

Circle Officer (CO) GRP Uday Pratap Singh said that fire broke out in Saharsa bound Vaishali Express for Delhi due to unidentified reasons. He said that no loss of life has been reported in the incident so far.

He said that 19 passengers were injured in the incident and were being treated at the district hospital and Saifai medical university.

Emergency Medical Officer (EMO) of Dr Bhimaro Ambedlar government hospital Dr Raghvendra said that 19 passengers of Vaishali Express were brought to the utility of which 11 having problem in breathing were referred to Saifai medical university.

Sources said that the injured included Munna Ram (20), Deepak (18), Mohit Kumar (20), Govind, Rahul Kumar (28), Gulshan (27), Sandeep (22), Manish Kumar Thakur (23) Dushyant Kumar (20), Dhanpati (22), Asaruddin (35), Sarita Devi (36), Chhotu Kumar (27), Vivek (24), Sachchidanand Prasad (23), Shweta Kumari (22), Lakshmi (30), Ashok (35) and Achhe Lal (53).

It may be noted that this was the second fire incident in a train in Etawah district in less than 24 hours. On Wednesday evening 8 passengers were injured when three coaches of the Darbhanga Express between New Delhi and Darbhanga in Bihar caught fire in Etawah district.

The incident took place at Sarai Bhupat railway station when the S1 coach caught fire reportedly due to a short circuit. "The fire spread to other coaches and engulfed S2 and S3 coaches. The passengers were boarding and deboarding the train when the incident took place," sources said.(UNI)<>