Home>News Center>World
         
 

Panel says Godhra train fire accidental
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-18 15:01

The burning of a train that triggered India's worst religious riots in a decade was caused by an "accidental fire" and not by a suspected Muslim mob as first charged, a government investigation said on Monday.

Fifty-nine Hindu pilgrims, including women and children, died when a carriage caught alight in Godhra in Gujarat in February, 2002, an incident blamed on a Muslim mob and which triggered the revenge slaughter of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims.

The coalition that ousted India's Hindu-nationalist government last May set up a panel to probe the incident because of doubts over the real cause of the fire.

The finding is a blow to the Hindu-nationalist BJP government that still rules Gujarat. It was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the reprisal killings, something it denies.

"There has been a preponderance of evidence that the fire originated in the coach itself without any external input," the government said in a statement after the report was released.

The government is still awaiting the findings of a separate investigation by a panel of judges into the train fire and the subsequent riots.

The state government and police had accused a Muslim mob of torching the train and charged more than 100 Muslims.

No one has yet been convicted over the train fire and only a handful of people have been convicted over the riots.

"With the elimination of the 'petrol theory', 'miscreant activity theory' as well as the ruling out of any possibility of 'electrical fire', the fire... can at this stage be ascribed as an accidental fire," the investigation panel said. The panel was led by a judge and included rail safety experts.

In an interim report, the panel also scotched suggestions an inflammable liquid had been used from outside, saying there was evidence cooking inside the train may have caused the fire.

The panel's conclusions were based on documentary evidence and witness statements.

The panel is expected to submit its final report to the government in the next two months.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

PetroChina reports record oil production last year

 

   
 

Britain, China unite in hi-tech research

 

   
 

Taiwanese applaud charter flight pact

 

   
 

Plan intends to make life better for Beijingers

 

   
 

32 Chinese stowaways found in LA container

 

   
 

Bush set to unveil second-term agenda

 

   
  Iraqi exiles register to vote overseas
   
  Denmark warns of terror threat to Aceh aid workers
   
  Bush set to unveil second-term agenda
   
  Annan plans shake-up of management team shortly
   
  Gunmen kidnap Catholic archbishop in Iraq
   
  UN bans travel in tsunami-hit region
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement