At least 16 passengers had to be evacuated after a fire broke out inside a carriage of the Kolkata Metro on Thursday. Soon after the blaze broke out, smoke engulfed the coach, causing the 16 people to “fall ill”, NDTV reported. Details of their illness have not been given yet.
The fire broke out in the first coach of a metro train between Rabindra Sadan and Maidan stations. “Sixteen are injured, 15 have minor injuries,” an unidentified metro official said. “One person has fractured his leg.”
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Aparijita Rai said that the injured have been taken to SSKM Hospital, and labelled the incident an accident, ANI reported.
Kolkata Metro tweeted that all passengers inside the coach had been safely evacuated. It said that metro officials put out the blaze using fire hydrants, and that the West Bengal Fire Service and Kolkata Police disaster management teams are at the spot.
“We are relieved there was no casualty,” senior metro official Indrani Banerjee said. “We called in the police and fire brigade as soon as we heard of the smoke. The train was stopped and metro workers tried to tackle with fire extinguishers.” She added that the train’s driver should have made an announcement of fire. “If he did not, the matter will be probed,” Banerjee said.
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