A massive fire broke out in a goods train at the Bhitoni railway station in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur on Friday (April 25). "My entire team reached the spot immediately after receiving the information and controlled the fire. It took us around 15-20 minutes to control the fire," said a fire official.
Rail traffic hit as oil tanker of stationary rake catches fire
Rail traffic on Jabalpur-Itarsi section was hit on Friday after an oil tanker of a stationary rake caught fire in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district. The blaze started at 9:00 pm near Bhitoni railway station, some 30 kilometres from the district headquarters, West Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Harshit Shrivastava told media.
"The fire has been brought under control. The oil tanker rake had stopped enroute to the oil depot at Bhitoni. Rail traffic will be restored on the Jabalpur-Itarsi section soon. The cause of the fire is being ascertained," the CPR informed.
Fire breaks out at Gwalior Railway station
A fire damaged the locked VIP waiting room and adjoining station director's office at Gwalior Railway station on Friday though no one was injured in the blaze, said officials. The blaze, which started in the waiting room located on platform No. 1 of the Railway station in Madhya Pradesh, was brought under control in an hour, they said. No one was injured in the blaze whose cause was not yet known, said the officials.
Gwalior Municipal Corporation (GMC) Fire Officer Satyapal Singh Chauhan told reporters, "Construction work is ongoing at the Railway station. We received information about a fire in the VIP lounge on platform No. 1 at around 1 pm. As soon as we got the information, three fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was brought under control after an hour of effort."
Initially, station staff tried to douse the flames using fire extinguishers, Chauhan said, adding that Railway officials are investigating the cause of the fire. Railway officer Akhilesh Tiwari informed that at the time of the blaze, there was no train traffic at the station.
"Passengers were promptly evacuated from platform No. 1. The cause of the fire was still unknown," he added. Railway Protection Force (RPF) in-charge Sanjay Kumar Arya said, "As soon as we received information about the fire, our force arrived and evacuated the passengers from near the fire site." The fire damaged the VIP waiting room and the station director's office, Arya added.
(With inputs from agencies)