LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) has made a three-member inquiry committee to probe into the eruption of fire in the power van of Lahore-bound Jafar Express (near Jacobabad station) on Friday evening and directed to submit its report in three days.

The joint certificate, an immediate brief preliminary report that is generally made soon after an accident under the law, has yet to be made, Dawn has learned.

“I have checked from an official concerned at the PR’s Quetta division who told me that a three-member committee, consisting of three grade-19 officers has been constituted,” PR’s train drivers association chairman Shams Pervaiz told Dawn on Saturday.

The power van caught fire apparently due to a short circuit at about 6pm on Friday near Jacobabad railway station. The train driver immediately stopped the train, detached the affected van from passenger coaches and the locomotive reportedly with the help of other crew members.

“Due to fire incident, the train remained idle for two hours. Moreover, various other trains also stopped at stations for a couple of hours,” said an official source. He said several passengers in the affected power van’s adjacent passenger coach also got down to save their lives.

“Fortunately, all remained safe,” he added.

The PR has been facing frequent accidents, including some related to fire eruption, in the last couple of years. These included October 2019 Tezgam fire tragedy that killed 73 passengers. Similarly, the fire also erupted in the running Jinnah Express dining car near Harappa (Sahiwal) on June 18, last year.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2020