Fire in Karunagapally station, vehicles gutted

Vehicles that were gutted in the fire outside the Karunagapally railway station on Wednesday.

A car and 16 two-wheelers were gutted in a blaze that broke out at an unauthorised vehicle parking area outside the Karunagapally railway station on Wednesday afternoon.

All the vehicles belonged to railway commuters who had taken trains earlier in the day from the station.

Shop keepers in the vicinity said they had noticed the fire at about 2.30 p.m.

Failed attempt

Local people made an attempt to douse the fire after informing the local Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) office, but it did not succeed.

By the time the fire fighting personnel arrived, fuel from the tanks of several two wheelers spilled and aided the spread of the blaze.

FRS personnel fought the flames for over 45 minutes to bring it under control.

The fire also spread to a few trees in the area. The efforts by the FRS team prevented the fire from spreading to the nearby authorised vehicle parking area of the railway station where more vehicles were parked.

The car that got gutted belonged to a teacher from Panmana who works at a school in Thiruvananthapuram.

It was because of lack of space in the authorised parking area that many commuters park their vehicles outside the station. The shop keepers said the fire had broken out in the same area a week ago but was quickly doused. The location is largely covered by dry shrubbery.

The Karunagapally police have registered a case. Police said they were investigating whether there was mischief behind the blaze..