Rescue personnel attempt to open a window of a burning carriage of the Nanded-Bangalore Express near Puttapartihi in Ananthpur District some 300kms south of Hyderabad early December 28, 2013, after a fire engulfed the train
At least 26 passengers were killed after a coach of a train caught fire as it passed through Andhra Pradesh early this morning. Among those who died was a two-year-old baby girl.
The express train was en route from Bangalore to Nanded in Maharashtra.
Many of those who died were trapped and suffocated after the doors of the coach failed to open.
The fire was reportedly caused by a faulty air-conditioning system. The driver managed to detach the burning coach from the rest of the train.
As thick black smoke filled through the two cars at 3:45 a.m., panicked passengers broke the windows and many saved themselves by jumping from the train. More than a dozen were brought to hospitals with injuries.
"After jumping out, we tried to open the glass windows to help others. I tried to go back into the train to pull out others, but the flames were too large," said Srikanth, a survivor of the tragedy.
A spokesman for the railways, CS Gupta, said 67 passengers were in the two cars when the fire broke out about two kilometers from the small town of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh state.