Nilachal Express, Puri-Tirupati Express catch fire at Puri Station

The Neelanchal Express which was coming to New Delhi caught fire in Puri district of Odisha on Thursday. No injury or death was reported, government railway police sources said.

Chief Public Relations Officer JP Mishra said, the high-level inquiry committee has been instructed by GM Rajiv Vishnoi to complete the probe at the earliest.

Two of the trains, New Delhi-Puri Nandankanan Express and Tirupati-Puri Express had terminated their journey while the third one Puri-Howrah Express was scheduled to leave Puri at 8 pm.

The fire immediately spread to S-11 coach. Two of its coaches were also damaged in the fire. Minutes later, the Howrah-Puri Express stationed in platform number six was found catching fire. “Initially, we thought that Nandankanan Express caught fire due to electric short circuit”.

However, Indian Railways is suspecting that the incident was not an accident.

Movement of several trains was affected due to the inferno.

Hundreds of passengers who were waiting to board trains from Puri had a harrowing time when East Coast Railway temporarily suspended train operation from the busy station.

Meanwhile, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has detained a person under suspicion.

At least 40 fire brigade personnel and 10 fire tender vehicles took over three hours to contain the fire.