9 die as Dehradun Express catches fire near Mumbai 3 Bogies Gutted, 4 Charred Bodies Still Unidentified

Mumbai: Nine persons died when three second class sleeper coaches of the Bandra-Dehradun Express caught fire minutes after leaving Dahanu Road station, around 150km from Mumbai, in the early hours of Wednesday.      The accident comes exactly 10 days after another train  fire mishap killed 26 passengers in Andhra Pradesh.      Five among the victims died of asphyxiation. Three —a senior citizen couple and a 48-year-old man—were from Mumbai and two brothers from Gujarat. Four others were charred beyond recognition.      The train had left Bandra just over two hours earlier with only about 100 passengers on board, said a railway official. The accident could have been deadlier as rescue began almost one-and-a-half hours after the fire was spotted and the train halted in an area without proper roads.      The fire, believed to have originated in coach S4, spread to S3 and S2 around 2.25am. Some alert travellers and a gateman swung into action and most passengers got out even before fire engines arrived at the spot.  ALERT GATEMAN SAVES LIVES  The train had left Bandra Terminus at 12.05am  Around 2.25am, 7 minutes after it left Dahanu Road, level crossing gateman Jawahar Singh noticed flames  He alerted Gholwad station master, and train was halted at Chikhle, a hilly area; three coaches were completely destroyed  Slow speed of the train and fewer passengers helped avert bigger tragedy  BLAZE THEORIES  Brake binding (overheating of wheels) A short-circuit Inflammable material A careless smoker