Railway officials claim to have found traces of kerosene but fire department refuses to acknowledge it
Officials from the Fire Department and Railways were clearly heading for a showdown over the reasons behind the mysterious fire that broke out in the S11 coach of Tamil Nadu Express on Monday. While the Fire Department officials, who were the first to reach the spot, maintained that they did not find a trace of kerosene, the railway authorities on the other hand claimed that they found traces of kerosene indicating links to sabotage.
“Neither did we find traces of kerosene nor smell it soon after our fire-fighters entered the compartment. Our personnel entered the compartment moments after the fire-fighting operation concluded around 5.30 a.m.,” said Nellore District Fire Officer G. Srinivasulu.
Investigation
He asserted that the railway officials came to the accident site only after fire-fighters reached the spot. However, senior fire officials said a comprehensive investigation should be taken up to unravel the reasons behind the mishap. They said that two out of four doors in the compartment were closed and flames did not spread to other coaches even though the train was travelling at a speed of over 110 km per hour while passing through the Nellore station.
Officials argued that fire could have originated between seat numbers 50 and 60 because of the extensive damage of these seats. The intensity of the damage is more between these seats when compared to other areas in the compartment.
“Charred and twisted bodies were lying around these seats. This clearly indicates that fire might have emanated from seat numbers 50 to 60, they said.
It was a railway employee, Krishnamurthy, who was the first to alert the fire control room at around 4.30 a.m. on Monday about the flames that engulfed the train minutes after it crossed the Nellore railway station.
As the fire station is just 1.5 km from the spot, two fire tenders were the first to reach the spot within five minutes. The fire tenders immediately carried out fire-fighting operation.
“We battled for an hour to douse the flames. We succeeded in rescuing two persons from the coach. The injured were shifted to the hospital in 108 ambulances,” Mr. Srinivasulu explained.
Keywords: Tamil Nadu Express fire: Tamil Nadu Express, train accident, Nellore railway station, Nellore train mishap, TN Express fire
The needless loss of 32 lives in the fire accident is heart rending. The ritual of providing monetary compensation and setting up of a “commission” to study the cause of the accident will follow. This commission would provide their report (after a few years) on the probable cause of the accident and recommendations to prevent such tragedies, which will be ignored. The country can then wait for the next tragedy. The life of the common man has no value in India. Unless our ministers, MPs and MLAs are forced to travel by train, we can rest assured that there will be zero improvement to safety.
I agree to the comment that 30% of the travellers are railway employees. Upper class quota is booked by them. The raiways which gives different rail passes based on salary scale of each employee, but after the 6th pay commission, and steep increase in salary these entitlements were not changed according to the scale. Every one has become eligible for A/c travel, hence this rush in upper classes. The railway union plays a big part in suppressing the fact.
We have fire accidents in past years, like in public function/school building(s)/Film Theaters/trains..etc. The government must implement strict rules for these, there must be emergency exit windows/doors,
fire safety extingusher(s) kept near by/proper communication to outside administration..etc and if not implemented penalty will be imposed on the owners.
Dear ALL
I have designed a smoke detector that will arise a sound alarm as well inform the train driver on very first leakage( Even the cigarate smoke). This will helpfull to all if all it is installed in every coach . SMS will be sent as soon as the smoke initaites .Sound will also be raised if any of the smoke detector is malfunctioned.
please install this in railway
i recall that i was one of the first travelers in tn express when it was introduced on the first trip itself.
from the next day onwards the routine inefficiency,lack of human values/human lifes dignity has been buried by the railway authorities starting from the ministers,to officials,to kalasi etc.
a very sorry state of affairs that u cant open the doors during towering infernos/cant pull the chains during emergency///no escape routes for occupants/////no automatic warning systems/ and a complete lack of awareness by the operators of railways about public hazards/safety systems etc
the BRITISHERS SHOULD HAVE CONTINUED THEIR RULE IN INDIA....the next generations feel//////why the corrupt political and beuracracy systems in india.//////////no way to improve and safeguard the human lifes and NATURE in India....it reflects
put the blame on GOD AND LIVE.
its not the time to blame one another/
railways are totally lacking in safety measurues from infernos,accidents
floods,riots,robberies.\
install cameras,firefighting first aids,alarms.easy emergency exists
for all the passengers irrespecive of the tickets durin emergency within 15days time frame in all the trains in a WAR FOOTING MANNERand put an end to buracracy. REMOVE /dismissINCOMPETENT OFFICIALS workers .etc.lukeworm security personals.methouds/outdated technology/correption in procuring safety systems imcopotent adminsistrative officials/ministers shouuld be removed///
recruit only committed dedicated staffs who loves the doing jobs than recruiting grumbling elements in the name of such and such things throwing away all safety norms and parameters.
everyday update the safety technologies and immediately switchover to multilevel safety automation techniques..
above all treat the humanlife/soul as valuable than treating them worse than straydogs by the policymakers/implementers/
One wonders why the cars are built with one emergency exit, instead of
making every window an emergency exit?
We whine after such a disaster. Railways can not raise price. If they
do Mamata will get upset & threaten. They can not generate revenue to
upgrade. The infrastructure is collapsing and maintenance costs are
soaring. They are not able to upgrade (lack of revenue) and even if
they have funds they hesitate (fear of Indians desire to destroy
public property). And we gleefully participate in the destruction.
In a way, Indian public deserves this - to say in a cold blooded
manner. I understand that is cruel to the folks who lost their loved
ones. The public should raise and demand better equipment and be ready
to pay the true price for travel. We have good engineers & honest
workers. It is the political system that is corrupting, enabling &
forcing them to produce sub-standard products. This is the price we
pay for such actions.
Sir,
IR's coaches have always been a mobile cemetry, due to the flawed design
of coaches. Think for a moment how a person in Upper berth will even get
down in case of smoke, when it is combined with stampede below..? It's
the question of 'when' for us, travellers of IR and not 'why'.
I have often seen railway officials leading office groups on pilgrimage
or a nationwide tour cooking on the train. The ticket examiners don't
object because they are colleagues. Sure, this may not be the cause of
this tragedy, but it could lead to fires, as past accidents have shown.
Railway's should take care for safety precautionary measures for
accident, fire and they should keep a electronic detectors for heavy
smoke and fire as kept in outside country's.
ordinary fire cant destroy whole coach with in 5 min...some thing is there....the Main thing Door should open at that time the real thing we cant touch meatal while heating and railway doors are too difficult to open...
It is sad to see people found just one door that can be opened. The
door of a railway compartment opens inwards. When there is a rush, it
is impossible to open such a door and sustain it. Ideally the doors
should slide and open sideways. Out in the wilderness, where there is
no platform, getting down using the steps may be nearly impossible
with people rushing out. Ideally one has to turn around face, the
compartment and climb down. From the last step they may even have to
jump a meter on jelly stones. There should perhaps be emergency doors
as in airlines, that open fully to let people walk through and slide
down a chute. The emergency door may open outwards.
Politicians are representatives of people projecting the need and
priority of the people. Since they usurp the responsibility and
authority of the bureaucracy, they also inherit the accountability.
Apparently a bystander had to identify fire and alert the driver to
stop. There was no safety mechanism built in within the train that
alerted the driver / guard. People were apparently struggling to pull
the chain. In these days of wireless and electronics, can there not be
a mechanism of generating a signal such as emergency alert at the
press of a emergency button? Should a mechanism such as pulling a
chain that is in the nature of directly initiating the stoppage, be
the only system? Why is there no concept of redundancy? Security
cameras, and video surveillance may also be worthwhile. Railway
coaches have not changed in design since ages, in terms of utility or
safety, despite so much technology having evolved in the world.
Every train must have a smoke detector at least!!
Sir, the apathy of IR management towards precious human lives keeps growing day by day. Of late, accidents happen every other day. Feel sorry for those innocent victims due to the aspirations of regional parties to get the plum Railway Ministry. If this is the state of affairs in a prestigious train like the "Mighty" TN Express, I shudder to imagine what might be the state of the lesser siblings. With regard to the location of the emergency exits in wagons, the access to these exists is very complicated. They are located between two sets of three berths, well inside a coupe, which is very difficult to reach in emergency. Ideally, they should be located between the Side Lower and Side Upper berths where access is much more easier. Also, in most trains, you do not find the hammer required to break the glass and chains also seldom work. At least basic fire-fighting equipment should be installed in all trains with RPF personnel trained in basic fire-fighting skills.
What a terrible incident? As our trains are old and they are made up of material which cach fire easily. No rescue arrangement in our railways. And one more is that we are running british times trains which are old and horrible. We are in the same position where britishers left us. Atleast we should wake now as totally horrified.
It is quite baffling to know that this is a mistery in the modern age.
Small mistakes and little uncarefulness leads to this type of
accidents. There is no proper luggage checks in the carriages also
people in villages carry even gas cylinders in the carriages. Also in
any sleeper for the long journeys 30% people will travel with pass as
if railways owes them. They can not give people tickets in the long
lines and tatkal introduced to fill the coffers.
Many bad experiences for the general public and the poeple of higher
echelons wont care for the commoners.
This is one best example for such.
Firstly Indian railway become a headless chicken. The regional aspirants are the railway ministers since very long. They are least interested in railway safety and development, rather than regional interests. The presently railway minister, was a junior minister of railway during July 2011 when IED blast occured in Puri Express at Rangiya. When PM asked to visit the accident site, Mr. Roy refused and told PM was the railway minister. Now Mr. Roy took 12 hrs to reach the present accident site at Nellore. Now we can understand how railway functions without any control or management. People have to understand about the situation and act accordingly.
This being a 3 tier sleeper atleast the windows could be opened. Had
it been for A/C people will suffocate to death
The emergency exit is in the middle but the hammer required to break
open the glass at the entrance and inside a box that is covered with
glass. How to break the glass is yet another question
The arrangement should have been that atleast few windows should be
like we have in car etc where glass can be rolled up or down
Otherwise the emergency exit just defeats the purpose.
Does railway ever conduct Mock exercise of pulling the chain to see
its effectiveness
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