At Least 10 Dead, 20 Injured In Massive Fire In Train Coach At Madurai Railway Station

A massive fire broke out in a stationary train compartment at Madurai railway station early this morning, resulting in the tragic deaths of at least 10 people.

Additionally, over 20 individuals sustained injuries during the incident.

According to the Southern Railway, the cause of the fire was determined to be an "illegal gas cylinder" that was present on board the train.

The affected compartment belonged to a private party coach, with the passengers starting the journey from Lucknow.

Upon receiving news of the fire, Madurai district collector MS Sangeetha promptly arrived at the station to assess the situation.

Sangeetha said 10 persons were killed in the fire accident in the train compartment. 20 people with injuries have been admitted to a hospital for treatment, news agency PTI reported.

Police, fire, and rescue services, as well as railway staff, worked together to extinguish the fire and retrieve the charred bodies from the compartment.

According to a statement from Southern Railway, the fire broke out at 5:15 am today and was successfully extinguished by fire service personnel who arrived at the scene half an hour later, at 7:15 am.

"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....smuggled gas cylinder and this has caused the fire," the release said.

The party coach had started the journey from Lucknow on August 17, scheduled to return to Chennai on Sunday and return to Lucknow from there, it added.

"While 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 stabled/parked 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 added, reports PTI.

According to the statement, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh was being provided to each family of the deceased.

In response to the fire incident and casualties, the Southern Railway has established two helpline numbers for information. These numbers are 9360552608 and 8015681915.