Timely intervention averts tragedy as fire breaks out at Amritsar-Saharsa Express train

Chandigarh, Oct 18 (IANS) A major tragedy was averted with the intervention of railway employees as a fire broke out in one of the AC coaches of the Amritsar-Saharsa Express (train 12204) at the Sirhind station in Punjab.

However, no one was injured during the incident.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. However, the train resumed its journey after safety checks towards Saharsa in Bihar.

Upon detecting the smoke, the railway employees safely evacuated all passengers from the burning coach and moved them to another coach in the train.

Emergency teams also extinguished the fire, preventing it from spreading further. According to railway officials, the fire was noticed around 7.30 a.m.

"As soon as the incident was noticed, Railway authorities swung into action and shifted the passengers immediately to the other coaches and the fire was also extinguished quickly. The train will depart for its destination shortly. No casualties. Time of incident 7.30 a.m.," the Railways said in a statement.

One of the videos of the incident showed fire extinguishers at work after a massive blaze erupted on one of the coaches.

Another video showed passengers on the railway track, as smoke could be seen in one of the coaches of the train.

A police official said that smoke was noticed in one of the AC coaches of the train, and passengers were safely evacuated.

Fire tenders were immediately called in to put out the fire, the official added.

Train number 12204 Amritsar-Saharsa Garib Rath Express covers a distance of 1,716 km in over 31 hours. The train operates three days from Amritsar -- Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

During its journey between Amritsar and Saharsa, train number 12204 halts at 23 railway stations. These are: Beas, Jalandhar City, Phagwara, Dhandari Kalan, Ambala Cantt, Delhi, Hapur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Hardoi, Lucknow NR, Gorakhpur, Deoria Sadar, Siwan, Chhapra, Hajipur, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Dalsingh Sarai, Barauni, Begu Sarai, Khagaria, and S Bakhtiyarpur.

--IANS

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