Nine passengers from Lucknow killed as fire guts private party coach at Madurai railway yard | Madurai News

MADURAI: Nine passengers from Lucknow died as a fire broke out while they were cooking in a private IRCTC coach stationed in the yard of the Madurai Railway junction in the early hours of Saturday.
The coach had been detached from a train and stabled in the yard. Preliminary investigation revealed that the passengers smuggled a gas cylinder aboard the train and were cooking in the coach when the fire broke out at 5.15am.

Many passengers had gotten out of the coach on noticing the fire. Some passengers got down on the platform. Railway sources said fire service personnel were alerted immediately and they arrived at 5.45am. The fire was put out by 7.15am. No damage was reported to any other coach.
The passengers arrived by train No 16730 (Punalur-Madurai Express) which reached Madurai at 3.47am. The private party coach was attached at Nagercoil Junction on Friday. The party coach was detached and kept at Madurai Stabling line.

The party coach had started their journey from Lucknow on August 17. They were scheduled to return to Chennai on Sunday by Train No 16824 Kollam-Chennai-Egmore-Ananthapuri Express and proceed to Lucknow.
Any individual can book party coaches using the IRCTC portal. They are not allowed to carry any inflammable material like a gas cylinder. The coach is to be used only for transportation purposes, said railway officials.