Vikash Sharma

Puri: As many as three bogies of Puri-Hatia Tapaswini Express were gutted in a major fire mishap at Puri railway station. A major tragedy was averted as there were no passengers inside the train as it had halted at platform no-4 for routine cleanliness and other maintenance work, sources said.

As per reports, fire broke out in the S-4 compartment and soon it spread to S-3 and S-5 bogies. Though the exact reason is still unclear, a detailed investigation will be carried out in this regard, senior officials of East Coast Railway (ECoR) informed.

"The incident occurred at around 12:55 PM today. No casualties have been reported as the coaches were empty. Senior officials from Bhubaneswar and Khurda are on the spot to assess the damage," said senior ECoR officials in a statement.

As per the ECoR officials, AC coaches and coaches from S-6 onwards were subsequent detached from the rake by station staff which prevented the fire from spreading further.

While S-4 coach has been completely damaged, S-3 and S-5 coach has been partially affected in the fire mishap as per the latest reports from senior officials of Puri railway station.

"When our teams reached the spot, already S-4 bogie was badly gutted. Subsequently, a massive operation was carried out to douse the flames," said fire officer, BK Panda.

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