TN train fire: FIR doesn't mention tour operator; bodies of pilgrims reach UP

Bodies of nine victims, including that of the tour organiser, killed in a fire mishap in a train coach in Tamil Nadu arrived in Lucknow from Chennai on Sunday.

UP deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak received the bodies and the mortal remains were taken to the home districts of the deceased in Uttar Pradesh.

Railway sources said Harish Kumar Bhasin (62), the tour organiser was among the dead and all the nine victims have now been identified.

While the TN Government Railway Police sleuths are questioning five passengers, the commissioner of railway safety commenced inquiry over the mishap in Madurai.

The UP deputy chief minister told PTI "the state government is providing all possible assistance to the families."

The bodies arrived at the Chowdhury Charan Singh airport in Lucknow in two separate flights.

Five bodies were sent in a direct flight from Chennai and four were sent via Bengaluru.

Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner Naveen Kumar said, from the Lucknow airport, the bodies were transported to the respective districts of victims in hearses arranged by the government.

Official sources in TN said, of the 64 passengers of the private party train coach, one person continues to be treated in a Madurai hospital.

Nine persons were killed and eight others were injured in the fire accident on August 26 at the Madurai railway yard in Tamil Nadu.

The survivors, including seven, who were treated for injuries boarded separate flights from Chennai and Madurai to reach their destinations.

TN police sources said the FIR does not feature tour operator Bhasin's name and the reference was 'general,' which was related to organising the pilgrimage, illegal storage and use of cooking gas cylinder inside the train coach and all other relevant, attendant factors.

Commissioner of Railway Safety, Southern Circle, AM Chowdhary commenced his inquiry into the fire accident.

Chowdhary, while answering a question, told reporters that he did not see any conspiracy angle.

The senior official said he held enquiries with passengers, who were treated here for their injuries, and recorded statements from them on how the fire spread in the coach that was parked in a yard.

He said it would take at least one month to complete the inquiry and submit the report to the authorities.

Chowdhary inspected the train coach, stationed in the railway yard here, that had caught fire.

An official from the Southern Railway and a member of the Railway Board were part of the inquiry, the scope of which covers the cause of the fire.

The passengers of the private coach were on a pilgrimage to southern parts of the country and the tour operator had hired a private party coach from the railways.

Manoharman Agarwal (81) and Himani Bansal (22) of Lucknow, Shanti Devi (67) of Lakhimpur Kheri, Parmeshwar Dayal Gupta (57) of Hardoi, and Mithilesh Kumar (52), Shatru Daman Singh (65), Harish Kumar Bhasin, Ankul Kashyap (32) and Deepak Kashyap (20) of Sitapur died in the fire tragedy, officials said.