Ranchi/New Delhi: At least seven people were burnt to death and over a dozen suffered minor injuries when two AC coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express caught fire Tuesday in Jharkhand's Giridih district, police said. "Seven people, including three children, died after two coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express caught fire. Four bodies have been identified. The fire has been extinguished," D. Parwa Lakra, deputy commissioner of Giridih, said. The incident took place between Nimiyaghat and Parasnath railway stations. Two AC coaches caught fire around 2.30 a.m. A blast in a gas cylinder of one of the coaches is said to be the reason behind the incident. "Over a dozen people suffered minor injuries. Four Australian women were in the B1 AC coach. Three of them have been admitted to hospital. It is suspected that the fourth woman died," said P.K. Srivastav, railway superintendent of police of Dhanbad division. Asked about possibilities of more bodies in the burnt coaches, he said: "We have searched both burnt coaches and found only seven bodies. There were 72 passengers in B1 which caught fire first and the bodies were recovered from the same coach."
Images: Firefighters extinguish the train coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun express train caught fire in the early morning in Giridih district of Jharkhand, about 300 kms north from Ranchi on Tuesday, November 22, 2011.
Text: IANS
Images: AFP/PTI
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