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Passengers evacuated from train after fire breaks out in Austrian tunnel

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian authorities evacuated people from a train after a fire broke out in a tunnel Wednesday evening, and officials said up to 25 people had slight injuries.

Police said the night train with some 200 passengers on board was in the tunnel near Fritzens, east of Innsbruck in the Tyrol region, when the fire broke out, the Austria Press Agency reported.

Local authorities said the fire was extinguished by late Wednesday. They said 20 to 25 people were believed to have been lightly injured from inhaling smoke. Austrian media reported that all or most people had already been evacuated.

The train was en route to Hamburg and Amsterdam.

There was no immediate official word on the cause of the blaze, but Austrian media said that one or more cars being transported by the train appeared to have caught fire as a result of a fault with overhead electric wires.

The “Nightjet” overnight services that Austrian railway company OeBB operates to several European destinations sometimes convey passengers' cars in separate trailers.

The Associated Press


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