AP forensic team coming to examine burnt coach

A team from Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory (APFSL) will arrive in City to examine the burnt B1 coach of Hazur Saheb Nanded-Bangalore City Express which caught fire on December 28, 2013, near Kothacheruvu, Anantapur district, killing 26 passengers. 

The team will examine in detail the coach’s electric circuits, stationed at City Railway Station’s coach depot. This follows the site inspection. Ten days after the train inferno, APFSL, on Wednesday, received internal samples of the coach’s circuits.
 “Based on site investigation and analysis we suspect short circuit led to the fire. We have not found evidence supporting sabotage, presence of explosives and presence of other inflammables. The samples of the internals of circuits have been received. We will need a week to analyse them. After this, the final report on the exact cause will be submitted to the Commissioner of Railway Safety,” APFSL Director Sharada Avadhanam said. 

“We need more samples, so we want to investigate the coach’s base too and circuits in detail for which it needs to be raised. This can be done only in Bangalore, without shaking the circuits and damaging evidence.”

The team is also probing whether electric leakages could be the cause. This has been pointed out by the Railways. The team is also probing whether there were any faulty laptops, chargers or mobile phones in use, which triggered the short circuit. 

Avadhanam said the major problem in most AC public transports is that they are not maintained at all, leading to accidents. Periodic inspections are a must and people need to be alert which is lacking. Prolonged delay in electrical maintenance leads to such incidents.