Fire in train: NIA seeks information, assailant targeted biggest tragedy Kerala has ever seen?

KANNUR: The National Investigating Agency (NIA) is seeking information over the fire in the bogie of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train which was stopped at the railway station. They will collect information from the state and railway police who are presently investigating the incident. Reports said the NIA team is likely to visit the place today as part of this. The union home ministry has taken the matter very seriously. The NIA is now investigating the Elathur train arson case.

NIA's preliminary assessment is that this incident in Kannur is similar to the Elathur train fire. In Elathur, the accused Shahrukh Saifi brought fuel and sprinkled it inside the train and then set it on fire. The CCTV footages that surfaced and the statements of the eyewitnesses are the same. The CCTV visuals of a man going to the bogey with a can in his hand has been obtained. Those who witnessed the incident said they saw smoke inside the bogie first but suddenly the whole bogie was on fire. They also said the fire broke out from almost every part of the bogie simultaneously. The investigation team concluded that the fire spread without using easily flammable fuel like petrol as there are more iron parts. There is also a strong suspicion that the fuel was sprayed inside the bogie and burnt. This will become clear only in the forensic examination.

Meanwhile, it is also suspected that the train without passengers was set on fire with the aim of causing a massive disaster which Kerala has never seen before. The Indian Oil Corporation's fuel storage center is barely a hundred meters away from the spot where the bogie caught fire. If the fire had spread to more bogies and reached the fuel tank, then the disaster would have been dreadful.

The fire broke out in the bogie of the Alappuzha–Kannur Executive Express train which was halted at the 8th yard near the 3rd platform of Kannur railway station. The incident happened Thursday early morning at 1.30 am. No one was injured. The train was halted after ending its journey at 11:30 pm.