At least 26 passengers, including 12 women and two children, were burnt to death yesterday when an air-conditioned coach of the Bangalore-Nanded Express caught fire near Puttaparthi inAndhra Pradesh.

“Of the 65 passengers in the AC-3-tier B-1 coach, 39 escaped the blaze with injuries and 15 of them were admitted to hospitals at Anantapur and Puttaparthi,” said South Western Railway spokesman S Biswas.