A passenger train caught fire in Saharsa, Bihar. Panic ensued when the engine of the Samastipur-Saharsa MEMU train (63344), standing at Simri-Bakhtiyarpur station, caught fire around 3 AM on Monday morning. Passengers jumped out of the train bogie and fled.
The flames were so intense that the fire quickly engulfed the next bogie. One bogie, along with the engine, was completely gutted and reduced to ashes. An investigation into the causes of the incident has begun.
The good news is that there were no casualties in this incident. After the fire incident, there was a commotion in the station premises, and a crowd of passengers and local people gathered.
Some pictures from the spot
Fire broke out in the Samastipur-Saharsa MEMU train standing at Simri-Bakhtiyarpur station
The engine and one bogie were gutted. The fire brigade team brought the fire under control in 2 hours
Fire brigade team extinguishing the fire in the train
Smoke continued to emanate from the train bogie for a long time
Smoke emerged from the engine, then fire spread
The Samastipur-Saharsa DEMU arrived at Simri Bakhtiyarpur Station Platform No. 2 around 3:44 AM on Monday morning. Shortly after the train stopped, smoke started emanating from the engine. Initially, people considered it a normal technical problem, but within a few minutes, the smoke turned into fierce flames. Many passengers were sleeping at that time.
The fire and smoke caused panic among passengers, and they ran out of the bogie to save their lives. Seeing the flames, passengers in other bogies started jumping out and fleeing.
Fire brought under control in 2 hours
Upon receiving the information, a team from the fire department also arrived with a fire engine and started extinguishing the fire. After two hours of effort, the fire was brought under control, but after some time, the fire started smouldering again in that bogie. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained. Initially, a technical fault or short circuit is being suspected.
Passenger Ritik said that he informed the railway helpline about the train catching fire. Railway officials started asking him for a video of the fire in the train. He made a video and sent it to them. Meanwhile, passenger Jitendra Kumar said that he was sitting in the bogie right next to the one that caught fire.
Many trains were delayed
Simri Bakhtiyarpur Station Master Sanjay Kumar Sajjan informed that at 3:22 PM, he received information that the MEMU Passenger train standing on Platform Number Two had caught fire. Immediately, the fire brigade team was informed.
Following this, train operations on the Saharsa-Mansi railway section were disrupted for about 3 hours. The Manihari-Jaynagar Janaki Express, Saharsa-Samastipur Passenger train, Sawan Special train which goes from Saraigarh to Deoghar, and the Purnia-Hatia Kosi Express train’s operations were disrupted.
