Short circuit triggered flames in Tezgam express, claim eyewitnesses

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Eyewitness accounts of the tragic Tezgam express inferno claim a short circuit in the ceiling fan of an air conditioned sleeper bogie of the train, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Witnesses to the incident say that reports of a possible gas cylinder leakage, or explosion are false and did not trigger the flames.

Witnesses also narrated how many of them jumped from the moving vehicle engulfed in flames to save their lives from jeopardy.

Seventy three people reportedly dead and forty others injured when fire engulfed three bogies of Tezgam Express due to an alleged cylinder explosion at Liaquatpur in Rahim Yar Khan on Thursday morning.

The train was on its way from Karachi to Rawalpindi when the unfortunate occurrence took place.

A Pakistan Railways official confirmed that the fire was caused by the explosion in a gas cylinder. After the blast, the raging fire engulfed two other coaches as well.

Railway officials said there were more than 200 passengers travelling in the three carriages , in which there were at least 77 passengers in one of the carriages while there 78 in the other economy class carriage. At least 54 passengers were travelling in the business class carriage.