LAHORE, Oct 24: An empty spare passenger coach of the Pakistan Railways, stationed at the separate yard of the city railway station, was burnt while an attached coach was partially affected when a fire broke out in it in mysterious circumstances on Tuesday morning.

The exact cause of the fire could not be ascertained, however, the possibility of fire eruption due to smoke of a cigarette was not ruled out by an official of the railway station. He said addicts frequently sat in the empty racks to keep away from the public eye.

It caught fire about 11am and was first witnessed by an employee of Lasani Cargo who informed emergency 15 about the matter and then the railway station management.

The fire brigade of city comprising several units as well as the railway rushed to the spot and started extinguishing the fire, which was overcome after 12:30 noon.

The railway officials informed that out of three parallel lines at Ghora Siding Yard, four/five coaches were standing in the middle of the line while stock of parcel and goods trains were standing on the external lines when the incident occurred.

“The railway operations staff first removed one of the external racks and then separated three coaches from the affected coach by cutting it but attached coach could not be separated due to massive fire,” said an official at the railway station.

It was learnt that the spare coach, made in 1980s, was brought from Wazirabad to Lahore for repairs by attaching it with Peshawar passenger (328-Dn) at the Lahore railway station.

An official, asking not to be named, said the passengers and drug-addicts were free to move at the platforms and yards and there was proper security around the yards and empty racks.

He said inner side of the decades-old coaches were made of dry material, including wood, board and paint, and caught fire quickly.

Meanwhile, an inquiry was ordered to investigate the incident and Divisional Commercial Officer/ Divisional Transport Officer Zubair Shafee Ghauri has been appointed the officer in charge. —Reporter