Kolkata, Dec 27 (IANS) At least 16 people were injured after an air-conditioned rake of a metro train in Kolkata caught fire on Thursday evening, however no casualties were reported in the incident, police said.
Panic gripped the passengers as thick smoke was seen coming out of the second compartment of a Dumdum-bound metro rake between Maidan and Rabindra Sadan metro station around 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Senior officials of Kolkata Metro, city police and personnel of West Bengal fire service and the disaster management team rushed to the spot and carried out immediate evacuation of the stranded passengers.
"According to our reports, 15 passengers sustained minor injuries in the incident while one person has got a fracture in his leg. Everyone has been successfully evacuated from the rake," a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
The metro authority confirmed the fire has been successfully put out and urged people not to panic.
"We disconnected the power supply and stopped the train inside the tunnel as soon as we heard about the smoke. The fire on the outside was put out. Some glass window panes had to be broken to rescue the passengers. We are happy that a major accident could be averted," Kolkata Matro CPRO Indrani Banerjee said.
However, many commuters who were evacuated from the train, complained that they were stranded for more than half-an-hour after the fire broke out while some alleged no announcement was made by the motorman of the train to pacify them.
They claimed some of the passengers fell ill due to the smoke and alleged that the rescue operation was delayed.
"According to primary investigation it seems that a spark in the TRCC third rail that supplies power to the trains might have caused the fire. The situation is under control. We are probing the matter," (DG) of West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services Jag Mohan said.
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