A man yesterday set himself on fire on board a moving Shinkansen bullet train in Japan, killing himself and one other person, in an unprecedented incident on a network with an enviable safety record.
Several other passengers had to be treated for smoke inhalation after the man doused himself in flammable liquid and lit a cigarette lighter on the train as it hurtled through the countryside about 70km southwest of Tokyo.
“At the very front of the first carriage ... this person had a whole gasoline container, and sprayed liquid across the seats ... and then all over himself. And then set himself on fire,” a woman passenger told broadcaster TBS. “And fire spread all over the place immediately.”
Photo: Reuters
The Yomiuri Shimbun daily said a blast was heard from a toilet stall at the front of the train, filling the front carriage with choking white smoke, and triggering an emergency stop.
Media reported that the driver of the 300train, which had about 1,000 passengers on board, found the still-burning body of the man after the emergency stop.
“We have been informed that there was a passenger in a car on the train who covered him or herself with oil and set it on fire,” a spokesman for operator JR Central said.
TBS footage showed a train carriage filled with smoke and passengers scrambling to get out, pressing handkerchiefs to their faces. One clutched a baby to the chest.
Other television pictures showed all the doors on the stationary train open and passengers being carried out on stretchers.
NHK reported the two dead were found on the floor of the front car, but at opposite ends of the carriage.
Broadcaster NTV said the dead man was 71 years old, while local officials said the other deceased was a woman.
An official at the local disaster prevention office said one man remained in a serious condition, while three others were badly hurt.
Fire department officials said 26 other passengers were also hurt in the incident, affected by heat, smoke and other causes.
The train involved in the incident — a super-fast Nozomi bullet train — was traveling from Tokyo toward Osaka, when the blaze erupted near Odawara, southwest of the capital.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set up a task force to respond to the incident, his office said, and all bullet trains running between Tokyo and Nagoya were suspended.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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