Ludhiana: Three railway employees, a conductor and two travelling ticket (TTs) examiners, who were on duty in the three coaches of Frontier Mail, which caught fire on May 15 killing 38 passengers, were suspended on May 18.

Conductor Sudhir Prakash and TTs Ajit Kumar and Jasbir Singh were suspended with immediate effect pending an inquiry by the railway authorities, following allegations by passengers that they were not in the coaches at the time of the incident, railway sources said.

Meanwhile, commissioner railway safety (CRS) Bhupinder Singh, probing the train inferno, tried to recreate the blaze scene in one of the coaches of the ill-fated super fast train to ascertain the cause of the accident, the sources said.

At the railway yard in Ludhiana, a sleeper coach next to the three affected coaches was sprinkled with kerosene, littered with cotton wool and a short circuit was done.

The experiment was stopped when smoke started coming out of the coach, they said, adding the motive behind it was to ascertain if short circuit had caused the fire, which engulfed three coaches within a short span.

Two pedestal fans were brought to pump in air and two fire brigades were commissioned, but were not used. Policemen were also deployed near the compartment.

Besides Singh, Ferozepur division Railway manager H C Punia was among the senior railway official present.

The CRS also commenced recording statements of railways, fire and health departments employees. Statements of the staff on duty at the railway station and guard and engine crew of the Mumbai-Amritsar train will also be recorded.

In his statement before the CRS, divisional fire officer of Ludhiana Kartar Singh said they got a call about the fire at 4.10 am (IST). And when the first fire tender reached the accident site at Ladhowal at 4.25 am (IST), flames were leaping out of three sleeper compartments indicating that the fire had spread within a short span of less than 10 minutes.

Kartar Singh was asked about the location and condition of bodies and how they were taken out and the time taken for completing the job, sources said.

The statements of ticket examiners and conductor would also be recorded, they said.

Bhupinder Singh met the injured passengers to have a first hand account of the accident from them, inspected the burnt coaches and visited the site at Ladhowal.

PTI