NEW DELHI \u2013 A fire on a train killed at least 23 people on Saturday in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, local television networks reported.<\/p>\n\n
The overnight express train was travelling from the southern city of Bangalore to Nanded when the fire broke out in an air-conditioned carriage around 3:00 am, the NDTV and CNN-IBN networks said.<\/p>\n\n
The local police chief confirmed to AFP that there had been fatalities and that rescue operations were under way but would not give a number of the dead.<\/p>\n\n
Fifty-four people would have been travelling in the carriage which had been completely gutted, the reports said. Around a dozen other passengers had been injured while some jumped off the train to escape the blaze.<\/p>\n\n
In a statement on his official Twitter account, Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh expressed his “shock and grief at the loss of life in the train accident in Andhra Pradesh”.<\/p>\n\n
“PM directs railway and state government authorities to extend all possible help to the victims in rescue and relief operations,” the statement added.<\/p>\n\n
The railways ministry has set up a special hotline for families to see if relatives have been caught up in the tragedy and an initial compensation package has been unveiled.<\/p>\n\n
Originally posted at 10:55 am, Dec. 28, 2013<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A fire on a train killed at least 23 people on Saturday in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, local television networks reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":553513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,43],"tags":[334,4803,567,2200],"byline":[],"source":[206067],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n