In a fire in a railway tunnel in the Austrian state of Tyrol, more than 30 train passengers have been slightly injured. As the control center of the emergency services announced on Thursday night, a night train of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) was affected, which was traveling from Innsbruck to Hamburg and Amsterdam. 151 people were evacuated from the train, according to the state of Tyrol. 33 of them were slightly injured and taken to hospitals with suspected smoke poisoning. Around 700 emergency personnel were deployed. According to the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), an overhead line damage had triggered the fire in the tunnel.
Previously, the emergency services had assumed up to 370 passengers because of the seat reservations. The police had spoken of around 50 slightly injured.
The broadcaster ORF and the APA news agency reported that, according to emergency services, damage to the overhead line had caused a fire on cars transported on a car wagon of the train. An overhead line had fallen on cars. Subsequently, the cars would have caught fire. At that time, the train was running through the Terfens railway tunnel near Fritzens.
Because of the fire, the train could not continue. Around 21:00 p.m., a major alarm was triggered. About 20 fire brigades moved out to extinguish the flames and rescue the passengers. Shortly after 23:00 p.m., all passengers were evacuated.
All persons who did not need medical care were taken by bus to Innsbruck, where sleeping facilities were also organized for all those affected. According to the information, the route in the tunnel is initially closed. The ÖBB tweeted: "The rescue chain and evacuation worked well."