12 die, nine injured in French train blaze

An overnight express train heading for Austria burst into flames near a station in eastern France today, killing 12 passengers. Nine people were injured.

The fire broke out as the Paris-Vienna train with 150 passengers on board was passing through the city of Nancy. The train was heading for the Austrian capital via Strasbourg, near the French-German border.

Investigators said the cause to a possible electrical problem in the heating system.

Most if not all victims – six men, five women and one child – died of smoke inhalation.

Their identities were not immediately known, although Germany’s Foreign Ministry said four of dead appeared to be German. The train was to stop in Munich before reaching Vienna.

The injured – four Germans, three Britons, one American and one French national – were taken to a university hospital in Nancy.

A train conductor alerted authorities at about 2.15am Irish time when he noticed smoke pouring from a carriage as the train passed the Nancy station on its way to Strasbourg.

“Rescuers got to the scene at 2.22 a.m. They discovered the first sleeping car charred,” Regional official Jean-Francois Cordet said. “Inside were 12 dead, nine injured.”

Firefighters rushed to the train, which had stopped on a track about 875 yards outside the Nancy station. The charred carriage – No. 119 – belonged to Germany’s national railway, Deutsche Bahn. It dated back to the 1960s and included wood construction and fitted carpeting.

“The catastrophe was amplified by the fact that it was in a confined space. The fire was limited, and the amount of smoke very quickly became catastrophic,” chief firefighter Jean-Louis Modere said.

Police investigators were on the scene. A team of psychologists was sent in to help survivors cope with the trauma.

Officials offered passengers shelter in a local gymnasium, France Info radio reported.

French Transportation Minister Gilles de Robien and Louis Gallois, president of the French rail authority SNCF, were headed to the scene.

Fatal train accidents are extremely rare in France, whose high-speed rail network is considered one of the best in the world and a model for other countries.