Shocking: A man after a suspected argument sets his co-passenger ablaze on board an express train on Sunday. Soon after setting a co-passenger on fire, the unidentified accused escaped when the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express slowed down after passengers pulled the emergency chain. Three others were found dead on the track soon after the incident took place. Police suspect that they fell off the train or attempted to deboard after seeing the fire.
Accused escaped after the incident
According to sources, the incident took place around 9.45 pm when the train reached the Korapuzha railway bridge after crossing Kozhikode city. The fire was extinguished by the passengers who alerted the Railway Protection Force (RPF). "As per the preliminary information, the person who allegedly caused the fire escaped after the incident. Three persons with burn injuries have been shifted to hospital by the RPF and after necessary inspection, the train continued its journey," a senior Railway official told PTI.
Investigation underway
As per the initial reports, the incident took place after a suspected argument between two persons. Kozhikode city police and the Railway Protection Force have initiated probes into the matter.
Three were found dead on track
Three persons, including a one-year-old child and a woman, were found dead on the tracks near the Elathur railway station here, hours after a man allegedly set afire a co-passenger and injured eight others on board an express train. A senior police official from the district told PTI that the bodies of a woman, a child and a man were recovered from the tracks late Sunday night.
Unidentified man poured an inflammable liquid on a co-passenger
The three were missing from the train after the fire incident on Sunday, he added. At around 9.45 pm, when the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train reached the Korapuzha railway bridge here after crossing Kozhikode city, an unidentified man poured an inflammable liquid on a co-passenger and set him on a fire resulting in burn injuries to at least eight persons, police said.
When the train reached Kannur, a few passengers complained that a woman and a child were missing after the incident. "A man, who was injured, kept looking for a woman and a child. We found footwear and a mobile phone of that woman," a passenger told the media at Kannur.
CCTV visuals of suspect
Soon after the news of the missing persons came out, the city police inspected the tracks and found three bodies, including the woman and the child and a mid-aged man. Police suspect they fell off the train or attempted to deboard after seeing the fire. "The woman and the child who went missing were found dead on the tracks. There is one unidentified body of a male. We have found CCTV visuals of the suspect. Investigation is on," a senior police official of the district said.
Sources said the woman was the child's aunt. A total of nine persons have been admitted to various hospitals, including the Kozhikode Medical College, for treatment Further details are awaited.
KPCC president and MP from Kannur has written to Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking his intervention into the matter and asking to give compensation for the victims who were set ablaze on a train including those who died in the incident.
(with inputs from PTI)
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