HYDERABAD: Fifty-eight passengers were killed and 13 others injured when a bogie of the Warangal bound Kakatiya Express caught fire between Charlapally and Ghat Kesar stations in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, about 3¢ Km from here, late Wednesday evening.
The condition of some of passengers admitted to a local hospital here, was reported to be serious according to eyewitnesses, a group of radicals boarded the train near Charlapally, shouted pro peoples war group (PWG is a maoisteninist organisation) slogans and. distribute’* pamphlets.
Later, they sprayed gasoline in the bogie and soon fire indulged the bogie, they said.
“About 20 radicals entered the compartment and started raising antigovernment slogans. They assured that they would not do any harm to us. But they distributed pamphlets soaked in kerosene, So on there was fire around us” an eye witness, Mallesiam, working for the Sanghi College for blind here said.
“There was a scramble to get out of the bogie. Some of us jumped from the running train”, he said in the hospital bed with bums on his face and hands.
The injured admitted to the Gandhi hospital and the railway hospital here, including 3 women, 1 child and 9 men, the railway sources said. Adding that the death toll might go up as more than 150 persons were traveling in the compartment.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 19, 1990
