Bhubaneswar, Nov. 12: Fire broke out this afternoon in five compartments of three express trains at the Puri railway station.

There were no casualties.

East Cost Railway has ordered a probe into this incident and Railway Protection Force (RPF) has detained two persons in connection with the mishap. Sources said sabotage has not been ruled out.

Following the accident, all trains bound for and leaving Puri were delayed by nearly three hours.

East Coast Railway officials said that sleeper class compartments S-11 and S-12 of the New Delhi-Puri Nandankanan Express on platform No. 4 caught fire around 4pm. The train was empty at that time.

Even as fire brigade personnel were engaged in dousing the fire, flames were seen in two compartments (S-2 and S-3) of Tirupati-Puri Express stationed at platform No. 2. This train, too, was empty. The second fire began around 5.15pm, around one hour after the train had entered the station.

Although there were no casualties, panic mounted as the fire spread to a general compartment of the Puri-Howrah Express at 6.10pm, stationed at platform No. 6. This train, which was also vacant, was scheduled to leave Puri for Howrah at 8pm.

People present at the station helped contain further damage to the Puri-Howrah Express by de-linking the fire-stricken bogie from the rest of the train.

"When we noticed the fire in the Puri-Howarh train, we rushed in and detached the hosepipe of the bogie," said Puri resident Padmanbha Behera, who was present at the station during the fire.

The incident has raised questions on the safety measures being taken by the railway officials and the RPF.

"How was the fire allowed to spread from one platform to another with so many RPF personnel present at the station?" said Purosstam Das, who was to board the Puri-Durgapur Express, one of the trains that were delayed.

Assistant Fire Officer B.K. Panda said: "We got the news about the fire around 4.30pm and immediately rushed to the spot." He said that seven fire engines manned by around 40 personnel fought the fire for around three hours.

East Coast Railway's chief public relation officer Jyoti Prakash Mishra said: "Senior officials have reached Puri to start a probe into the incident. Nothing can be said at this moment about the reason."