An assistant driver suffered grave injuries when a fire broke out in the engine of the 22909 Valsad-Puri Super Fast Express at Bhopal railway station on Friday. The assistant driver of the train Rajendra Prasad sustained serious injuries and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
The incident took place when the train was near Bhopal railway station and scheduled to halt at Bhopal railway station at around 8 am on Friday. In the short circuit borne fire no passenger was injured. If the incident would have occurred after the arrival of the train at railway station the number of injured might have increased.
The victim sustained around 30-40 per cent burns and is reportedly stable.
Railway officials claimed that the fire broke out after at technical fault which caused short circuit and soon the fire spread but the fire was controlled and pacified.
"Assistant Driver Rajendra Prasad sustained burns when the fire broke out in the train after it arrived at platform no 4 at 0815 hrs. The blaze was doused immediately and the cause of the flame is yet to be ascertained but an electrical short circuit cannot be ruled out in the engine," Public Relations Officer (West Central Railway) AI Siddiqui said.
The driver was rescued and rushed to railway hospital and was later shifted to Chirayu hospital his condition is reportedly stable, said Siddiqui. The movement of railway traffic was not disrupted due to the incident, he added.
On the receipt of the information senior officials of Bhopal railways rushed to the spot and inspected the spot and enquired regarding the incident. The injured driver would be provided with the best possible treatment instructed the senior officials and instructions of finding the reason of the fault were given.
After spotting the fire on duty police personnel of RPF informed the seniors and rushed to the rescue of the victim. After the technical fault was repaired the train resumed the journey.