Massive fire breaks out at Ayodhya railway station

A massive fire broke out at the Ayodhya railway station today, damaging various electrical gadgets and CCTV cameras installed at its platform one and affecting the movement of trains on the route, said officials.

No casualty, however, was reported due to the fire, which broke out early today between 1 am and 2 am, they said.

The fire, which started with a blast apparently due to a short circuit at a book stall on the platform, spread so rapidly and turned so massive that it took over an hour for several fire brigade vehicles to douse the flame, they said.

At one point of time, the flames threatened to engulf the entire platform one and reach the Mankapur-Faizabad passenger train standing there, prompting us to evacuate the platform and rush the train for onward journey, Railway Protection Force in-charge Ashok Kumar Singh told PTI at Ayodhya railway station.

"The fire broke out with a big blast and first caught the book stall and a general store shop at platform number one, the reason behind the fire was an electric short circuit," he added.

Ayodhya Station Superintendent Ram Surat said at the time of fire Chapra- bound Utsarg Express was to pass through the station but it had to be halted for over an hour at the Faizabad junction.

Inspector General (Railways) Vijay Prakash, who visited the station said a probe would be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.