"Initially, I found the door jammed but luckily it opened and some of us jumped out” he said. Many got injured in the process but were not roasted alive, he stated.
Railways ministry spokesman Chandralekha Mukherjee in Delhi said the cause of the fire was not known, but speculated that it could have been triggered by a short circuit.
"Inflammable materials being carried by some passengers could have been responsible for the fire spreading rapidly across the passenger coach” she added.
Accidents are common on India’s vast rail network that daily operates 9,000 passenger trains that carry over 18 million passengers and remain the mainstay of cross-country commuters across the large country.
More than 1,200 people had died since 2007 in train accidents due largely to negligence by monitoring staff and obsolete signaling equipment.
Indian Rail, meanwhile, has announced an gratia payment of Rs 500,000 (5800 Pounds) for the families of those who died in this morning’s fire.
Railways ministry spokesman Chandralekha Mukherjee in Delhi said the cause of the fire was not known, but speculated that it could have been triggered by a short circuit.
"Inflammable materials being carried by some passengers could have been responsible for the fire spreading rapidly across the passenger coach” she added.
Accidents are common on India’s vast rail network that daily operates 9,000 passenger trains that carry over 18 million passengers and remain the mainstay of cross-country commuters across the large country.
More than 1,200 people had died since 2007 in train accidents due largely to negligence by monitoring staff and obsolete signaling equipment.
Indian Rail, meanwhile, has announced an gratia payment of Rs 500,000 (5800 Pounds) for the families of those who died in this morning’s fire.