In a shocking incident, a ticketless passenger was caught smoking surreptitiously inside a toilet on Tirupati–Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express which triggered a false fire alarm and halted the train on Wednesday, news agency PTI reported citing the railway officials.
The incident happened in coach C – 13 on Train No. 20702, Tirupati- Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express after passing Gudur in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati.
As per the visuals shared by @TeluguScribe on X (formerly Twitter), smoke can been engulfing the coach with the passengers moving out of the tarin.
The smoking triggered an automatic response from an aerosol fire extinguisher installed in the toilet. The extinguisher deployed a cloud of powder-like substance intended to put out fire. The sudden release of the powder caused a panic among the passengers in the coach who alerted the guard through an emergency phone connection inside the coach, leading to the train getting halted at Manubolu around 5 pm.
{{/usCountry}}The smoking triggered an automatic response from an aerosol fire extinguisher installed in the toilet. The extinguisher deployed a cloud of powder-like substance intended to put out fire. The sudden release of the powder caused a panic among the passengers in the coach who alerted the guard through an emergency phone connection inside the coach, leading to the train getting halted at Manubolu around 5 pm.
{{/usCountry}}"An unauthorised passenger boarded the train from Tirupati and locked himself in the toilet of C-13 coach. The passenger smoked inside the toilet which resulted in automatic activation of aerosol fire extinguisher present inside the toilet," an official from South Central Railway (SCR) Zone's Vijayawada Division said in a press release.
Mistaking the false alarm to be a fire accident, the RPF rushed to the coach with a fire extinguisher and broke the toilet's window. The passenger who was smoking inside the lavatory was taken out by the police personnel. The police later detained the accused at Nellore for appropriate action as per the Railway Act, the official added while the train resumed its journey later.
The Vande Bharat trains seem to have been the victim several unruly activities from within and without by passengers and others.
Adding to the string of incidents where stones were pelted a few days ago, unidentified men pelted stones at the Vande Bharat Express train running from Gorakhpur-Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki region.