Fire broke out in train in Kannur railway station, no casualty reported

Kannur: An unreserved coach of an halted Alappuzha-Kannur Executive express train (16306) at Kannur railway station caught fire in the wee hours on Thursday, no casualties were reported, so far.

Police suspected that it was an attempt to sabotage an electric short circuit, causing a fire.

Police also got CCTV footage with a person moving towards the train with a can.

The Railway police and Kerala police began to investigate and search operations were going on.

The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) plant was located around 100 metres away from the railway station and the CCTV visuals were collected from BPCL office, Police said.

According to Railway sources, the incident took place at around 0115 hrs on Thursday, and the train was stopped at the eighth yard near to the third platform after separating the engine on Wednesday night around 2330 hrs.

The Railway officials saw the fire from the bogie and they alerted the fire force, four fire engines rushed to the spot and doused the fire around 0215 hrs.

One bogie of the train fully gutted in the fire, Palakkad Railway ADRM Sakeer Hussain said.

He also said only the real cause will be ascertained after the Forensic experts team examination by the experts.

The Dog and Bomb squad also conducted raids at nearby areas after the incident.

This incident was reported nearly two months after the same train set on fire by an accused Sharukh Shaifi of Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi after spraying petrol on co-passengers of the moving train at Elathur in Kozhikode district, on April 2.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigating the train arson case, in which 3 persons were killed and eight injured. (UNI)