Nine killed as fire ravages Mumbai-Dehradun train

Fire and smoke engulfed three cars of an Indian passenger train early yesterday, killing nine people as they slept in the latest tragedy to hit the country's vast railway network.

Authorities were trying to determine what caused the fire to break out before dawn, just hours after the train left Mumbai on a 48-hour journey to the Himalayan foothill town of Dehradun, Western Railways spokesman Sunil Singh said.

TV channels broadcast images of flames leaping out of the windows and lapping at the metal sides of the cars.

Five of the victims had suffocated on smoke, while four were burned to death, Railway Minister Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy said. The fire spread through three of the train's coaches before it was noticed by a guard at a railway post, who raised the alarm.

"We made the train stop immediately," railway official Shailendra Kumar said. Because there was no road access for firefighters, "passengers and train staff used fire extinguishers on the train to douse the fire, but it did not subside".

Firefighters eventually put out the blaze at a stop further along the track at the town of Gholvad in Maharashtra state.