Jolted from sleep, ran for life; Train fire survivor recounts ordeal

Uttar Pradesh resident Alka Prajapati was sleeping in the illfated private party train coach when screams of fire fire eruptedWhile she instinctively scurried towards safety she found the train door locked Thankfully someone broke open the lock to let the panicstricken passengers out possibly averting a bigger tragedyWe were sleeping when we heard the cries and tried to escape The door was locked so we could not escape immediately Someone broke the lock and we came out There was thick smoke and I couldnt breathe properly and just took Gods name she told PTI at the hospital where she was receiving medical attentionRailway employees arrived there 1520 minutes later and all efforts to put out the flames were taken But it the coach was blazing she said still recovering from the shockSome survivors who spoke to the media said they were proceeding to RameswaramVinod Kumar another passenger said the sudden screams after the fire erupted woke him up from sleep and we ran for our lifeIn moving scenes at the spot women were seen wailing possibly over losing a dear one while a child recalled the tense moments before fleeing to safetyA local eyewitness autodriver Mannan Prakash said the people in the vicinity rushed to the accident spot soon after hearing a sound but could not get near due to the fireSome got stuck inside They could not get down quickly since it was a sleeper coach he said The fire broke out at 515 am on Saturday and Fire service personnel who arrived at the spot half an hour later put down the blaze by 715 amThis is a private party coach that was attached at Nagercoil Junction yesterday Aug 25 by train no 16730 PunalurMadurai Exp Party coach was detached and kept at Madurai Stabling line The passengers in the private party coach havesmuggled gas cylinder and this has caused the fire Southern Railway saidThe party coach had started the journey from Lucknow on August 17 scheduled to return to Chennai on Sunday and proceed to the UP capital from there on it addedWhile the coach was stabled parked some members of the party in the private party coach were using the illegally smuggled cooking gas cylinder unauthorisedly for preparing tea snacks which caused the fire in the stabledparked coach Most of the passengers could get out of the coach on noticing fire Some passengers had already got down at platform also before detachment of coach it addedThe private party had illegally carried gas cylinder stove and other inflammable articles which led to the freak fire accident it saidAmong the items found at the spot was an LPG cylinder bag of potatoes damaged utensils and wooden logs giving ample indications of attempts to cook foodAt least nine pilgrims bound for Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu met with a tragic end on Saturday when a fire broke out inside a stationary train compartment at the railway station here in the small hours of Saturday the Southern Railway said This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever