Chennai, Aug 28( IANS): Five people, including tour operators and a cook, were arrested in connection with the Madurai train coach fire which claimed the lives of nine Uttar Pradesh pilgrims travelling to Rameswaram.

Sathyaprakash, Narendra, Kardish Sakhani, Deepak and Sukum Kashyap were arrested by the Government Railway Police.

They have been booked under Sections 302,304 and 285 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 164 of Indian Railway (IR) Act.

According to sources, they will be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Madurai.

Notably, a tourist coach in the Lucknow-Rameswaram express that was stabled at Madurai outer yard caught fire on Saturday morning leading to the death of nine persons and grievous injuries to many others.

The cause of the fire was found to be an illegally boarded gas cylinder exploding in the coach while the cook was trying to make tea.

There were 55 tourists and eight staff in the coach and nine people lost their lives in the fire mishap. The Railway and local police had difficulties in identifying the bodies of the deceased as the dead were charred beyond recognition.

Since many of the pilgrims were away at the time of the mishap, police could not ascertain the details of the deceased and those missing.