Passengers manage to escape to safety
Ongole - Prakasam, September 24, 2008Two bogies of the Tirupati-bound Padmavati Express were reduced to ashes after a fire broke out in them around 3:00 AM on Wednesday. A major tragedy was averted by an alert point man who helped in bringing the train to a halt. The passengers of the ill fated bogies and air conditioned bogie and general bogie however saved their lives by jumping out minutes before the fire assumed alarming proportions.
The person who noticed the commotion in the bogies telephoned the station master who in turn alerted the guard over cell phone. According to initial reports, the fire broke out due to short circut in the electrical panel of the air conditioned bogie. The train is said to be running at a speed of 80km per hour when the incident happened. The passengers pulled the chain to stop the train but found to their dismay that the chain did not work. The fire extinguishers too failed to work. Passengers in the general bogies also tried to pull the chain to stop but to no avail.
After receiving information about the same, the guard applied emergency break and brought the train to a halt. The panicky passengers who felt helpless for fifteen minutes, jumped out of the train in darkness to save their lives. The fire resulted in bring the bogies to ashes. The train driver and the guard separated the affected bogies and prevented a major fire accident. The District Collector, K Devanand, SP V Navinchand supervised the relief operations. The DRM rushed to the spot and faced the wrath of the passengers.
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