Chennai, July 19: An immolation bid by a passenger on the Chennai-Coimbatore Cheran Express put at risk the lives of nearly 70 travellers today as the train’s last two coaches were engulfed in the fire.

Preliminary investigation indicates that someone had tried to set himself ablaze in the toilet of the train’s penultimate compartment. A body and some kerosene-soaked clothes were recovered from there.

Around 5.45 am when the train was approaching Irugur station, about 12 km from Coimbatore, a passenger saw smoke emanating from the toilet.

The traveller, a lawyer, was rinsing his mouth at the wash basin placed just outside the toilet. He immediately alerted other passengers in the general compartment, police sources said.

There were at least 70 people in that coach then, a top police official said over telephone from Coimbatore.

Even as the alarm chain was being pulled, “the fumes emanating from the toilet increased” and passengers also smelt burning kerosene, the sources said. They hurriedly alighted from the affected coach with their luggage.