|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 16 May 2003 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
At least 38 die in train fire in north India LUDHIANA, India, Thursday (Reuters) Fire killed 38 people in a packed passenger train in northern India on Thursday, catching many people in their sleep, officials and rescue workers said. Authorities said they were not sure of the cause of the fire but ruled out sabotage. Witnesses said the train, travelling to the northern city of Amritsar from Bombay, was overloaded and exits had been blocked by luggage. Some people had tried to hide in the bathroom to escape the fire but were suffocated. "Thirty-eight people have died including 10 to 12 children," said Ludhiana district magistrate Anurag Agarwal. He told Reuters there were a number of small bodies and body parts charred beyond recognition, making it difficult for rescue workers to establish the actual number of dead. The train, on a 37-hour journey, had just left the northern Indian city of Ludhiana and was travelling at about 90 km (56 miles) per hour when the fire started in one coach at 3.45 a.m. (2215 GMT). It quickly spread to the two adjoining coaches. Authorities said Thursday's fire was an accident. Meanwhile anguished relatives searched for loved ones in a charred pile of bodies littering the tracks where the crowded passenger train caught fire. "I have lost my wife and both my sons in this ghastly accident," said Indian army soldier M.K. Shah, as he sat weeping by the side of their now-shrouded bodies. Relatives of Anil Bhatia, a private sector employee, were searching for his wife. "Anil is in hospital with burns but please help us to trace Anita, his wife," said one of the couple's relatives, pointing at the badly-charred bodies. Three economy-class carriages at the rear of the express were burned, officials at the site told an AFP correspondent, adding the bodies of 35 of those killed were brought out from a single coach.The remaining three other bodies were retrieved from the two other smouldering carriages, an official said, adding that 11 of those killed were children. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
