Rail investigators are looking into the cause of a blaze that engulfed a three-carriage train on the outskirts of Berlin. The blaze began while several passengers were still onboard.
An investigation was underway on Sunday after a passenger train was engulfed in a large fire while stopped at a station on the outskirts of Berlin overnight. Five passengers still on board had to exit the train but were unharmed.
The fire department was initially unable to say where and why the fire on Saturday evening had started on the diesel-powered train.
Firefighters were called to the Ahrensfelde station on the border between Berlin and Brandenburg after the alarm was raised at about 9:50 p.m. local time.
The three-carriage train had been due to start its next trip to the town of Werneuchen when the train driver heard a bang.
Smoke appeared and flames were seen, prompting the driver and a female attendant to evacuate the train’s five passengers.
The fire department extinguished the flames — which by then had engulfed all three cars — and no one was injured, a spokesman said. The train sustained major damage.
