Nellore, July 30: And the tragedy of Indian Railway passenger continues. This time it is Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express, which caught fire at 4:30 in the morning near Nellore station in State of Andhra Pradesh, leaving 32 dead and 25 seriously injured.

According to local correspondent, out of 32 bodies recovered so far 19 are said to be of males, 6 of females, 3 of children and four are said to be unrecognizable.  

According to co-passengers, it was raining at night and the windows of sleeper class were shut. As there were 72 passengers were in that boggy, the death toll is likely to rise further.

"The spread of the fire was swift and quick and the coach got gutted in 2-4 minutes flat. Only a few people managed to escape, while the rest were trapped inside," IBNLive quoted local sources as saying.

According to ticket collector, who was in the compartment next to S-11 coach, there was an an explosion right before the fire broke out. However, authorities have not reached to any conclusion so far behind the cause of fire.

As per Railway tradition of 'compensation announcement before rescue mission', Railway Mission Mukul Roy--who was in in his home state West Bengal--announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh to the relatives of the dead has been announced.

In addition, an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh will be paid to the grievously injured and an ex-gratia of Rs 25,000 will be paid to the simple injured passengers.

Helpline numbers
Chennai Central Station: 044-25357398 and 044-25330821.
Nellore: 0861-2345863, 864, 865, 866 and 0866-2576924;
Secunderabad: 040–27786723, 27700868, 27786539;
Warangal: 0870-2426232, 09701371063.
New Delhi Station: 011-24359748