Tapaswani Express catches fire at Puri station, no casualty reported

East Coast Railways (ECoR) CPRO Jyoti Mishra said the fire was first reported in S4 coach and later it spread to S 3 and S 5 coach. There was no injury as the coaches were empty.

He said the incident was reported at about 1255 hours and immediately the fire brigade personnel were pressed into service to douse the blaze.
Soon after the incident the AC coaches and other coaches were cut off from the three coaches as per the standard drill of railway safety so that the fire does not spread to other coaches.

Mr.Mishra said the fire department of Odisha government has done a wonderful rescue operation and brought the fire under control with full cooperation of the Railway Protection Force, station officials and local police.

Senior Railway officlas at Puri are already on the spot and officials from Bhubaneswar and Khurda Road rushed to the Puri station to assess the damage.

The CPRO said as per the preliminary report the S 4 Coach has been badly damaged while the S3 and S 5 are partially damaged in the fire.

He said it was not the cause of the fire was not ascertained yet. The matter will be enquired by the experts and the railway is waiting for the report from the police and fire department.

The CPRO said all efforts are being made to ensure the timely departure of the Tapaswani Express form Puri this evening and three sleeper coaches will be attached to the train at Puri station.

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