Author: AFP
Publication: Dawn
Date: February 21, 2007
URL: http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/21/top14.htm
An Indian soldier onboard the fire-bombed
train to Pakistan died while rescuing trapped passengers from blazing carriages,
officials said on Tuesday.
Kashmir Singh was part of a rail security
team on the cross-border train. The midnight attack in the northern Indian
city of Panipat killed 68 people and injured more than a dozen with severe
burns.
"After the twin blasts, Singh smashed
through a steel door and an emergency hatch of one of the two blazing carriages
and helped five or six passengers get out," Police Inspector-General
Sharad Kumar said. "He kept pushing out people from the coach despite
being on fire himself ... and finally flames overwhelmed him."
Police officer Ranjan Sharma, citing witness
accounts, said Singh ignored the risk to his life in the "fire-storm"
which engulfed the carriages.
