Puri : A day after a fire broke out in Puri-Hatia Tapaswini Express at the railway station here, a scientific team from Bhubaneswar initiated a probe into the incident Saturday.
The team examined the three gutted coaches of the train and tried to ascertain the exact cause of the fire. However, the team suspected that some people might have set the express on fire while it was at platform no. 4 Friday.
According to sources, the team tried to find out whether the miscreants had used any chemical to set the train on fire or not. “The team has virtually rejected short-circuit as a cause behind the fire. Because, power supply to the train was stopped to the train much before the incident,” said a source.
It is learnt that a scientific team from Kolkata is scheduled to conduct an investigation on the train fire Sunday.
The Government Railway Police, meanwhile, examined the CCTV footage from the station and detained two persons in connection with the incident. “From the CCTV footage it was found that some people were leaving the S-4 coach of Tapaswini Express soon after the fire broke out. Anyway, we are looking into all aspects of the incident,” said a GRP official.
It is worth mentioning here that fire broke out at the S-4 coach of Tapaswini Express around 1 pm Friday. Soon, flames engulfed S-3 and S-5 coaches.
On being informed by the station authorities, a 20-member fire brigade team rushed to the spot and doused the fire. “It took almost an hour to douse the flames. Three coaches of Tapaswini Express were gutted. However, no one was injured in the incident,” said a station official.
Soon after the incident, a five-member team from the East-Coast Railway conducted a probe.
Notably, fire broke out in Nandankanan Superfast Express, Tirupati Express and Puri-Howrah Express gutted when these trains were at the Puri railway stations November 12, 2015. Five coaches were damaged in the incident.
Similarly, fire mishap was reported from the pantry car of a special train for the armed forces at the station January 17, last year.
