Horror moment train car explodes in fireball killing 10 after gas cylinder used for coffee blows up in Madurai, India
HORRIFYING footage shows the moment a train explodes in a massive fireball killing ten people.
The train car was engulfed in flames after a gas cylinder used for coffee blew up at a railway station in Madurai, India.
Dramatic footage shows the train being rocked by multiple explosions sparking a fire as screaming passengers are running to escape the inferno.
More than 20 people were injured in the accident that happened around 5.30am local time.
The blaze burned for two hours before firefighters were able to put it out, authorities said.
Rescue efforts are in place while the bodies of the casualties are being transported to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.
The private party coach, carrying 65 passengers, had arrived from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh after it started the journey on August 17.
But tragedy struck when the coach was detached from the train and parked at the Madurai railway in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Officials said the fire was sparked when a passenger lit a gas burner to prepare coffee.
“When they lit the gas stove to make coffee, the gas cylinder blasted,” an official for Madurai said.
Authorities said in a statement that the fire was caused by a gas cylinder smuggled in by some passengers, adding that police, fire and rescue officials helped pull out the bodies from the coach.
Southern Railway said many passengers managed to get out.
Passenger Shivaprathap Singh Chauhan, 65, told the Times of India they were asleep when the fire broke out.
He said: “I don’t know how the fire broke out. I managed to push four people away from the coach but fainted due to exhaustion.
“I am worried about my wife and others who traveled with us.”
Accidents are common on Indias railroad network, one of the worlds largest, with some 22 million passengers daily.
Most collisions and fires are blamed on poor maintenance and human error.
In June, a deadly train collision killed over 290 people in one of India‘s worst train accidents.
