Fire at Bengal's Bagha Jatin Railway Station, Local Train Services Disrupted

Local train services were disrupted for a considerable period at the South Section of the Sealdah division of the East Railways on Monday morning following a major fire at Bagha Jatin Railways station in that section.

However, at the time the report was filed, the local train services had been normalised. There is no report of casualties following the fire that broke out in a temporary shop at the station platform.

The fire broke out at around 6.30 a.m. on Monday at a garments shop at platform number two of Bagha Jatin railway station. Because of the inflammable nature of the item with which the shop was constructed, as well as the items stocked within the shop, the entire shop was engulfed in fire within minutes. And, because of the high wind speed, the fire spread quickly to the adjacent temporary shops constructed on the same platform. The people waiting at the two platforms of the station panicked and rushed out of the station.

When the fire broke out, it was a busy time for this section as thousands of domestic aides and contractual workers were travelling to Kolkata from different pockets of the South 24 Parganas district to earn their livelihoods.

The fire tenders quickly reached the spot after receiving the information, and the firemen started extinguishing the fire.

The fire was brought under control after about an hour of rigorous firefighting. The clothes and other items inside the shop were completely gutted in the fire. Extensive damage has been feared. However, it is initially reported that there are no reports of any casualties following the fire.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. The railway authorities and the fire department have launched a joint investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, due to the fire, train services on the down line of the South Section of Sealdah Division of Eastern Railways were temporarily suspended for safety reasons. Train services were completely suspended for around an hour.

This also affected the up line. Several local trains were stopped at various stations. After the situation normalised, train services were gradually restored.