This is the Herculean moment Indian soldiers, police and railway staff, as well as some passengers, push train cars apart to stop the spread of a massive blaze.
Passengers Join Rescuers To Push Train Cars Apart And Stop Blaze From Spreading pic.twitter.com/DFQgFdgMBf
— NewsX (@newsx_media) July 14, 2023
The footage shows the group effort, with smoke seen emanating from the train, which was reportedly carrying hundreds of passengers.
Indian military personnel, police officers and railway staff can be seen banding together and pushing train cars down the railway tracks to stop a fire from spreading to the other cars.
The fire, which took place aboard the Falaknuma Express between the city of Howrah, in the Indian state of West Bengal, and Secunderabad, in the Indian state of Telangana, reportedly affected five cars on 7th July.
Amitabh Sharma, spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of Railways, said: “This relates to Train No 12703 (HWH-SC) fire incident on 7th July… Railway personnel and Local police joined hands to detach the rear coaches & avoid further spread of fire.”
He also said: “After the fire incident, prompt response was given and an engine was on its way to help to detach the coaches to stop further spread of fire, but instead of just waiting for the engine to come, our alert Railway and Local police personnel took immediate action.”
He added: “Railway personnel and Local police joined hands to detach the rear coaches and avoid further spread of fire. Our gratitude to the alert police personnel for responding promptly.”
The footage quickly went viral on social media after being shared online, with Indian media reporting that a number of false claims had been made, including people saying that the train had to be pushed to be restarted.
It is currently unclear what caused the blaze and the authorities are investigating the incident.
