At least 10 killed in Indian train coach fire

At least 10 people were killed Saturday after a train coach parked in southern India caught fire when a passenger tried to make tea, officials said.

The coach, which had been detached from a train, was stationed at the Madurai railway yard in the southern state of Tamil Nadu when the fire broke out before dawn.

"It was a single, stationary coach booked by a private tourist operator. Somebody tried to make tea and it caused the fire," Madurai district spokesman Sali Thalapathi told AFP.

Footage showed huge flames leaping out of the windows of the train carriage. Some passengers managed to escape the inferno in time.

The Southern Railway said the passengers had illegally smuggled aboard a gas cylinder which exploded when they tried to use it. The passengers of the private party coach had arrived from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, reports NDTV.

The fire broke out at 5:15am and the fire service personnel who arrived at the spot half an hour later put down the blaze by 7:15am, a Southern Railway release said.

Madurai district collector MS Sangeetha said 10 persons were killed in the fire accident in the train compartment. 20 people with injuries have been admitted to a hospital for treatment.

Police, fire and rescue services personnel besides railway staff, involved in dousing the fire, extricated the charred bodies from the compartment.

"This is a private party coach that was attached at Nagercoil Junction Friday by train no 16730 (Punalur-Madurai Exp). Party coach was detached and kept at Madurai Stabling line," the release added.

An amount of ₹10 lakh was being paid to each of the family of those who died, it said.

Any individual can book party coach using IRCTC portal. They are not allowed to carry any inflammable material like gas cylinder, the release said.

India has one of the world's largest rail networks and has seen several disasters over the years, the worst in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar state and plunged into a river below, killing 800 people.

In June, a triple-train collision killed nearly 300 people in Odisha state.