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Sabarmati Express bogie set on fire, 30 dead; more trouble in Baroda

Thirty persons died and 18 injured when miscreants set fire to a bogie of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra station in Gujarat on Wednesday morning, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (Godhra division) Gyanprakash told rediff.com.

"The station has been cordoned off and the situation is under control," he added.

"The Sabarmati Express arrived in Godhra at 0845 hours on Wednesday morning. Within minutes, a mob appeared on the platform and set fire to a bogie," he said.

Following the incident, when the situation in the town took a turn for the worse, curfew was imposed, security personnel deployed and shoot-at-sight orders issued, sources said.

Earlier, addressing the state assembly in the morning, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced a compensation of Rs 200,000 to the deceased.

"The injured are out of danger," Health Minister Ashok Bhatt, who rushed to Godhra, told rediff.com.

However, the travails of the passengers were not over yet. At Baroda junction, one more person was killed and two others injured by an angry mob.

The trio were travelling in the train when it entered Baroda junction. On seeing a large crowd gathered at the station, they panicked and tried to run away.

Getting suspicious, the crowd caught them and assaulted them.

"I have never seen something like this before," Devendra Pal, a vendor at the Wheeler's bookstall in Godhra station, told rediff.com.

"When the Sabarmati Express arrived at Godhra station, kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya started shouting slogans like 'Jai Shri Ram'. This is their usual practice since Godhra is a Muslim-majority town," he said.

"Most of the hawkers in and around the station are Muslims. Some kar sevaks got into a tussle with one of them. In no time, I saw a huge crowd, carrying lathis, kerosene and sharp knives, descend on the platform."

"The crowd was in a frenzy. They stabbed people, set fire to the S-6 coach and left the platform all within a few minutes."

"They were from Singalphalia, a nearby Muslim-dominated residential locality," he said.

Even two hours after the incident, Pal appeared to be in a state of shock.

EARLIER REPORT:
Sabarmati Express bogie set on fire

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