Patna: Railway Ministry officials confirmed that the death toll in the Howrah-Dehradun Express train fire which broke out late on Monday night, is now up to seven.

According to railway officials, one of the deceased was identified as Archita Kumari who hailed from Asansol in West Bengal.

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi condoled the loss of lives in the fire mishap in the Howrah-Dehradun Express and announced an ex-gratia of Rs five lakh to the next of kin of those killed.

All other passengers in the affected B-1 and B-2 AC coaches will get Rs 25000 as immediate financial assistance for the inconvenience caused due to the fire, he said.

The death toll is further expected to rise as the rescue workers were yet to get inside the completely charred areas of the burnt bogies.

The Railway Ministry officials have also said that there was no pantry car attached to the train, so the investigations are on to find the source of the fire. An inquiry has been ordered by Commissioner Railway Safety (CRS), a railway spokesman said in Delhi.

However, some eyewitnesses said that they saw a short-circuit, but there was no way they could inform the officials about it at 2 am at night.

He added that the affected bogies have been detached and that rescue and relief operations are on.

“We have detached the affected bogies. Relief and rescue trains are on their way,” he said.

According to a Railway Ministry spokesperson at New Delhi, the fire broke out at 2:30 am in B-1 AC coach and then it spread to B-2 AC coach.

The train is currently stationed at the Giridih district of Jharkhand which is four hours from Ranchi.

The Railway managers and medical teams were on the site. Catering arrangements have been made for the stranded passengers.

Eight trains have been held up from Gaya and Dhanbad. Train schedules at the Howrah-Delhi route were also affected.

The Railways have set up a helpline for the relatives of the passengers.