Maha: Blaze erupts in Gandhidham-Puri Superfast Express, no casualties (Ld)

Nandurbar (Maharashtra), Jan 29 (IANS) A fire broke out in the pantry car of the 12993 Gandhidham-Puri Weekly Superfast Express near Nandurbar here on Saturday morning.There are no passenger casualties in the incident that took place around 10:30 a.m. and the blaze was controlled soon afterwards, said the Western Railway.WR Chief Spokesperson Sumit Thakur said that the fire was noticed in the pantry car of the train running from Gandhidham (Gujarat) to Puri (Odisha), shortly before it arrived at Nandurbar station, around 10.35 a.m."The fire was detected by the WR officials, and the train staff immediately got on to extinguishing the fire and detached the affected pantry car to prevent the flames from spreading to adjoining coaches," Thakur told IANS.The Nandurbar Deputy Station Superintendent, who detected the blaze, immediately informed the fire control, while the pantry car - at 13th position in the 22-car train - was separated from both sides of the rake.The fire extinguishers available at the station and on the train were used to douse the conflagration, while the local fire brigade was summoned for assistance, said a WR statement later on Saturday.There were no passenger casualties in the incident and the localised conflagration was brought under control a short while later, he added.Local eyewitnesses claimed that there was panic among the passengers as smoke from the burning pantry car entered the air-conditioned coaches.
--IANS qn/shb/

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