Shaukat loses daughter in Doon Express fire

Dhanbad: It will take Shaukat Ali a long time to overcome the grief of losing his daughter in the early morning inferno in Doon Express near Parasnath in Jharkhand on Tuesday.

His eight-year-old daughter Mahjuvi Ali Akhtar was identified as one of the seven charred to death in the fire that gutted two coaches of the train.

"I woke up when I heard loud noises by fellow passengers in the B-1 coach. When I opened my eyes, I could see only flames, smoke and commotion," a tearful Ali told visiting newsmen near the spot.

"I quickly took my younger daughter in my arms and ran towards B-2 coach where my wife and another daughter were. But I could not due to the dense smoke and leaping flames ... Fortunately my wife managed to come out, but not my daughter," he said.

According to Ali the fire broke out around 2:30 am and the fire engine came from Dhanbad, 47 km away, at around 5 am.

Yet another passenger said the fire was spotted just when the train was approaching Parasnath, the famous Jain pilgrim centre.

"One of the passengers pulled the chain to stop the train and helped many of us to disembark, he said adding most of the 128 passengers in the two coaches had hardly any time to pick up their valuables as they rushed towards the exit door.

It took over three hours to douse the flames, he said.

An Australian woman researcher, who along with three others from her country was travelling in the coach, is still to come to grips with the situation.

"I don t know how I got out from the coach," Naomi said at the Railway Divisional Hospital (RDH) in Dhanbad where she is being treated for her injures.

She saw two of her friends only when she reached the hospital but they were not informed of the death of the fourth member in fire, Chief Matron of RDH, M Mazumdar said.

Naomi had suffered injuries while coming out of the coach, while the other two inhaled excessive smoke. One of them has been shifted to Bokaro General Hospital," Majumdar said.

The four research scholars are in India for the past three months and had boarded the train at Howrah station last night for Bodhgaya.

"We have lost our research paper in the fire," Naomi moaned.

A total seven persons, including the eight year-old girl and an Australian women were among the seven who died in the fire in Howrah-Dehradun Express.