Passenger train catches fire in Cluj, 100 passengers evacuated safely

A fire in a stationary passenger train in Cluj county, Romania, led to the evacuation of 100 passengers on Wednesday morning, May 10.

The incident took place at Halta in Macău, where the train was stationary when the fire broke out in the engine compartment. Fortunately, all the passengers managed to evacuate safely.

The Huedin Detachment of ISU Cluj received an emergency call at 06:16 and the Aghiresu Intervention Guard arrived at the scene soon after, Digi24 reported. The passengers had already disembarked when the authorities arrived, and none of them required medical care.

Employees of Căile Ferate Române (CFR), Romania's state-owned railway carrier company, joined the firefighting efforts to extinguish the flames. The cause of the fire is suspected to be a fault in the engine compartment, according to the fire department's initial investigations.

"The passengers were disembarked from the train assisted by CFR Călători staff and were picked up by other trains. The safety and security of passengers and their own staff were not compromised. The train left with a relief engine," CFR said.

This incident raises concerns about the safety of trains and the importance of regular maintenance and inspections. Fortunately, no one was injured in the Cluj train fire.

This wasn't the first incident of this fashion that happened in Romania. Back in 2019, a train on the Bucharest-Târgu Jiu route carrying travel almost 100 passengers caught fire in Teleorman. The last two carriages of the interregional train were completely burned, but fortunately, no one was injured.

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