Madurai train fire: Bodies of 9 pilgrims to be airlifted to Lucknow

Bodies of all the 9 pilgrims killed in the fire that broke out at the Madurai train station in Tamil Nadu will be flown to Lucknow. A privately reserved coach of a stopped train at the station caught fire.

"All bodies would be transported to Chennai before being flown directly to Lucknow. On the same aircraft to Lucknow, there will be eighteen passengers. IRCTC is attempting to group more travellers for a flight from Delhi to Lucknow. Relief Commissioner Naveen Kumar G S was quoted by the news agency PTI as saying, "The dead have been embalmed.

An FIR has been filed under the Railway Act, according to RN Singh, general manager of Southern Railways.

"Most of the relatives are around the Lucknow area so we will try to airlift the bodies to Lucknow and hand them over to their respective families," he said, ensuring that those responsible for the fire will be punished.

In the early hours of Saturday, a fire broke out inside the halted railway cabin, killing the nine pilgrims who were headed for Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, according to the Southern Railway.

The cause of the fire is being investigated from many aspects, including one involving a potential gas leak.

The travellers would have arrived back in Chennai by Saturday lunchtime if they hadn't smuggled a gas cylinder into the party coach.

At 5.15 am, a petrol cylinder that had been illegally carried set fire to the building. At the time of the collision, there were 65 passengers riding in the coach.

According to the relief commissioner, plans are being made to return other people home after they have been accommodated in temporary shelters.