Ticketless Vande Bharat passenger lights a cigarette in toilet. Then this happened. Watch

After the false fire alarm rang, the aerosol fire extinguisher started emitting powder-like smoke to douse the flame, causing chaos. (Screengrabs from PTI video)

A passenger travelling without a ticket on the Tirupati–Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express triggered a false fire alarm, and aerosol fire extinguisher, and even halted the train for some time on Wednesday evening after he lit a cigarette inside a toilet.

The incident happened on Vande Bharat's coach C 13 on train number 20702 after passing Gudur in Andhra Pradesh, news agency PTI reported.

After the false fire alarm rang, the aerosol fire extinguisher started emitting powder-like smoke to douse the flame and in that process, the passengers in that Vande Bharat coach panicked. Later, they relayed the information to the train's guard through an emergency phone connection inside the coach, which led the train to stop at Manubolu around 5 pm.

VIDEO | An unauthorised passenger's smoking activity inside a toilet on Tirupati-Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express triggered a false fire alarm on Wednesday evening, a railway official said. The incident happened in coach C 13 on Train No. 20702 after passing Gudur. Following the… pic.twitter.com/ORMdlVG5ya

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 9, 2023

Hearing the fire alarm, the Railway police rushed to the coach with a fire extinguisher and broke the toilet's window to "save" the passenger who was smoking inside it. When they realised it was a false alarm, they detained the man at Nellore for appropriate action as per the Railway Act, while the Vande Bharat Express resumed its journey later.

"An unauthorised passenger boarded the train from Tirupati and locked himself in the toilet of C-13 coach. The passenger smoked inside the toilet which resulted in automatic activation of aerosol fire extinguishers present inside the toilet," an official from South Central Railway (SCR) Zone's Vijayawada Division said in a press release.

Read more: Passenger finds 'cockroach' rolled into roti served on Vande Bharat Express. See pics