At least 32 feared dead in India train fire

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 32 people were killed on Monday, July 30 when a fire ripped through a coach on a speeding express train as it carried sleeping passengers to the southern Indian city of Chennai, officials said, according to AFP.

The accident, on a long-distance service from New Delhi, occurred in the early hours of the morning near the town of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh state.

"Thirty-two (bodies) have been pulled out from the coach," Madhusudan Sarma, a senior administrative officer in Nellore district, told AFP, adding that there were still more corpses inside.

Another 26 people have been admitted to hospital, he added.

Dozens of rescuers, survivors and crowds of onlookers milled around as the blackened and twisted bodies of victims were lifted out of the wrecked carriage and laid in rows alongside the railway line.

The non-stop train was travelling at 110 kilometers an hour (70mph) when it passed through Nellore station, where staff noticed the fire and informed the railway authorities.

India's accident-prone rail network is still the main form of long-distance travel in the huge country, despite fierce competition from private airlines.