The Ladhowal rail disaster on 15 May 2003, was an flash fire which began at 4am on the Frontier Mail train service in India, and engulfed three carriages before it could be extinguished. 39 people lost their lives and another 15 were hospitalised with severe burns. The train service from Mumbai to Amritsar, had just passed the station at Ludhiana and was approaching Ladhowal, travelling at over 100km/h. Eyewitness A. D. Singh reported that he had seen the fire begin as a result of a dropped cigarette, whilst Safi Pitoliwali claims he saw electrical wiring in the toilet of the fourth carriage catch alight, but what ever the cause, the speed of the train combined with the open windows during the Indian summer to create an inferno, as air carried the fire back through three carriages in a massive burst of flame. Most of the dead were killed in this initial burst, as doors were slammed shut by the gust, trapping the commuters inside, where they burnt to death. Those that could dived under seats or leaped from the speeding train, but over fifty people were killed or critically injured in the first few seconds of the fire. 34 of the dead were in carriage five, and five more in carriage four, whilst those in carriage three escaped with mild burns, although all three carriages were later gutted. Wikipedia [ - ]

The Ladhowal rail disaster on 15 May 2003, was an flash fire which began at 4am on the Frontier... [ + ]