Agra: When a fire broke out in two general coaches of the Madhya Pradesh-bound Firozpur-Seoni Patalkot Express at 3:45 pm Tuesday, 43-year-old Shahid Ansari, a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) with the North Central Railways, was in an AC coach checking passenger tickets.
When he heard about the fire, he instinctively ran towards the coaches, he told ThePrint.
“As soon as the train stopped, I ran to the burning coach and helped the passengers escape,” he said. He wrenched open the emergency exit window and guided passengers toward it while using the fire extinguisher to keep the flames at bay.
“The coach was fast filling with smoke which was as dangerous as the fire, so I stayed in the coach for about ten minutes while the passengers escaped. When my fire extinguisher ran out, I got off,” he said.
The fire broke out in the two coaches of the train near Bhandai Junction Station in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district. No casualties were reported in the incident, and, according to media reports, four coaches were detached from the train as soon as the fire was noticed.
A video of Ansari, who has been an employee of the Indian Railways for the past 14 years, fighting the flames has been circulated on social media ever since. It shows the TTE running toward one of the coaches on fire and trying to douse the flames.
According to an initial statement from the Indian Railways, smoke was noticed in the fourth coach from the engine. “The train was immediately stopped and (the) coach detached,” the statement said.
While this statement also said there were no injuries, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Agra West Sonam Kumar later told ThePrint that 10 people were injured. “All have been discharged now and they have all been given Rs 50,000 each as accident compensation.”
There’s no clear cause of what caused the fire yet, but Agra Zone Divisional Railway Manager Tej Prakash Agarwal told ThePrint that The Indian Railways has instituted a four-member committee to look into it.
“The team visited Bhandai Railways Station, where this incident occurred, and then went to Jajau Railway Station where the burnt coaches have been parked,” he said. “The report will be submitted after the committee completes the inquiry.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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