Petrol spilling from a freight train due to a suspected theft sparked a fire on the railway tracks near Amarpura Basti on the outskirts of Bathinda on Friday night in an incident that could have proved fatal.
Officials said Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) had loaded petrol and diesel on the train from Guru Gobind Singh Refinery at Phulokhari village for Jammu under the custody of the railways. Sources said the blaze broke out due to spillage of petrol from wagon number 6 around 11pm. Onlookers reported the incident to the loco pilot and a guard sitting in the last wagon of the train. The train was halted, an alert sounded and the blaze controlled.
Locals who assembled near the burning tracks said that a major tragedy was averted as the fire remained did not reach the containers of petroleum products.
Ambala divisional railway manager Mandeep Singh Bhatia said, “After uploading from HPCL depot, the train was halted for nearly two hours at Shergarh close to Bathinda. It is learnt that some people attempted theft of petroleum products by opening the valve. There was some leakage that continued on the tracks, leading to the blaze. The officials from railways and HPCL isolated wagon number 6. Fire tenders were put into service. After dousing the fire, the train was allowed to move towards its destination at Jammu.”
Bathinda Canal Colony police station SHO Harjiwan Singh said that they reached the railway tracks and coordinated with railway protection force and government railway police.