Indian disaster: Train fire kills 26 in Andhra Pradesh

Rescue workers say many bodies are charred beyond recognition.

NEW DELHI:

A fire raced through an Indian train carriage packed with sleeping passengers on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, and forcing terrified passengers to smash windows in a frantic bid to escape.

Some passengers were able to break the train’s toilet cabin windows, but other victims were overcome by the thick, swirling smoke and bodies were found heaped at the windows and doors.

“We woke up to screams of ‘fire, fire!’. Everybody was screaming,” one survivor, identified as Patil, told the Press Trust of India.

Another survivor, Sharad, recalled,“We were all asleep. All of a sudden, we all woke up to a burning sensation.”



Rescue officials said many bodies were charred beyond recognition and would have to undergo DNA tests to determine their identity.

“Rescue teams have so far recovered 26 bodies from the train while five of the eight injured have been admitted to hospital for emergency treatment,” South Western Railway spokesman S Biswas told AFP.

The carriage was gutted by the inferno and was a mass of twisted metal and melted plastic seats. Adjacent coaches also bore scorch marks, testifying to the ferocity of the fire. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2013.