Kiev - A fire aboard a Ukrainian railroad carriage killed seven persons and left one more severely injured, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday.
The blaze broke out in the end car of a local train carrying commuters in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region.
A 20-litre Jerry can of petrol carried aboard the train by one of the passengers, and unsafe use of matches, was the most likely cause of the fire, according to railroad staff.
"According to some eyewitnesses after the train departed the station an unidentified person, who was apparently intoxicated, poured petrol onto the floor of the carriage and ignited it intentionally," a Ukraine National Railways press statement noted.
Continues Below ↓
The electric engine hauling the train pulled out of the Kharkiv-Lozova regional station on normally and on time, but by the time the train had travelled 1 800m the last car of the train
was ablaze, eyewitnesses said.
"A violent fire engulfed the entire carriage. Passengers of the next carriage in the train, noticing the smoke and fire, informed the engineer who stopped the train immediately."
Railroad station firemen used a fire train to reach the burning train and extinguished the fire "in twelve minutes."
An as-yet unreported number of passengers aboard the burning car escaped by breaking carriage windows, or with the assistance of firemen.
Besides simple accident, railroad detectives were investigating the possibility mobsters, terrorists, or insurance fraudsters were
involved in setting the train on fire, the report said, citing an investigator close to the case. - Sapa-dpa
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
