Rlys8217; prompt action saved other bogies 8212; Passengers

The Additional Railway Divisional Manager, s Patwardhan also rushed to the site, while D K Agarwal, deputy chief electrical engineer of the railways, who was also travelling in the train, took charge of the situation and prevented the fire from speading to other bogies, he said.

He said mega-phone and an Iridium phone were also rushed to the spot that helped in prompt communication and arrival of fire tenders within 45 minutes.

Discounting any possibility of a sabotage, he blamed the passengers for their carelessness andnegligence8217;.

Kapadia said melted iron from the affected bogies spread onto the railway track and it would take some time to clear the track.

Kapadia, who boarded the train at Nasik road station on Friday night, woke up when railway guards, cabin-attendant and railway supervisor knocked at his first class AC compartment around 3.30 a.m, shouting gaddi ko aag lagi hain, saman liye bina niche kud pado8216; the train has caught fire. Jump off without your luggage.

Sixteen passengers in his bogie, jumped out and saved themselves, he said adding they received minor scratches.

However, they found S5, S6, S7 and S8 engulfed in fire and heavy smoke billowing out. He even saw a passenger, already in flames, jumping out of a bogie. The railway personnel put him on the ground and put soil on him to put off the fire, he added.

Several students, travelling by the train, also pitched in the rescue operation.

Another passenger from here, Balkrishna Umarjikar, an industrialist, was however, yet to be tracedand his relatives are anxiously awaiting information about him as him name did not figure in the injured-list.

Meanwhile, a police team from Aurangabad visited Savda on Sunday and thoroughly checked the six burnt coaches to explore possibility of an explosion, triggering off the fire.