Date Published: 15/02/2024
Passengers evacuated as Madrid train bursts into flames
Spain’s Minister of Transport described the train fire as a “normal incident”
![Passengers evacuated as Madrid train bursts into flames](https://murciatoday.com//images/articles/24/02/2342068__11708007999_large.png)
A frightening blaze broke out in the cabin of a train operating on the medium-distance Cáceres-Madrid route, resulting in the evacuation of the 17 passengers on board. The incident took place at 7.12am at the Cañaveral station on Thursday February 15.
Emergency responders, including members of the Guardia Civil and Local Police, and a fire brigade quickly arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire. Fortunately, none of the passengers or crew were injured.
According to emergency responders, the fire was contained thanks to the cabin's automatic fire suppression system, and there are no longer any hotspots or risk of the fire spreading. The passengers were able to continue their journey on a replacement bus provided by Renfe.
Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport, downplayed the fire, explaining that is is one of the "normal incidents" that can occur on public transport.
"Sometimes a train catches fire...," he added, although he admitted that the inside of the cabin hasn't been updated since 2008.
In this sense, he explained that more and more services are being provided, but with the same furnishings as years ago, "obsolete material", as he put it.
"We are stretching the material as much as we can and that has its consequences," he said. Although he has expressed on several occasions that "you have to get used to incidents" because they are "normal" and often "inevitable".
Image: Renfe
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