Three trains catch fire in Puri, one person detained

According to reports, fire broke out in three express trains- 12816 New Delhi-Puri Nandankanan Express, 17480 Tirupati-Puri Express and 12838 Puri-Howrah Express- on Thursday when those were standing empty in the yard.

The Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of East Coast Railway (ECoR), J. P. Mishra told IBNS: "The fire first broke out in S-11 and S-12 coaches of Nandankanan Express, which had  just arrived at platform number 4. After a short while, two coaches- S-2 and S-3- of Tirupati Express, which was standing on platform number 2, caught fire. Then another fire broke out in a general compartment of Howrah-Puri Express, which was scheduled to leave Puri to Howrah Station tonight at 8 pm and parked at platform number 6."

"At least five coaches of those three trains have been burnt. As many as six fire tender engines successfully extinguished the fire. As all trains were empty then, no casualty was reported in the incident," Mishra added.

However, Indian Railways is suspecting that the incident was not an accident. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) have detained one suspect so far for his alleged involvement in the case.

"Railway has begun a high-level probe into the incident to know the exact reason of the fire," J. P. Mishra further said.

Train service from Puri Station was completely disrupted for hours for the incident. After few hours, around 7 pm situation became normal.

Meanwhile, one train compartment, which was parked separately at Kharagpur Railway Station in West Bengal's West Medinipur district, caught fire on Thursday morning.

As many as five fire tender engines rushed to the spot and fire fighters fought for nearly three hours to bring the fire under control.

However, the compartment was gutted completely. As it was empty then, no casualty was reported in the incident.

Railway has started investigation into the matter.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha; Images by IBNS)