Fire strands 200 MRT passengers

MANILA, Philippines – A fire caused a Metro Rail Transit (MRT) driver to stop one of its trains between stations and triggered panic among 200 passengers who fought to get out of the train, officials said yesterday.

MRT operations chief Ronilo Bacolod said a short circuit started a fire at the bogie underneath the first coach at around 8:55 a.m., causing smoke to enter the second coach as the southbound train left the GMA-Kamuning station.

Seeing the fire, the driver turned off the power supply and stopped the train several meters from the Cubao station.

The smoke caused passengers to panic, with many of them jumping out of the train and ignoring the driver’s calls for an orderly disembarkation.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Lyndon Yap, who was among the first to arrive at the scene, said many passengers left belongings in the train, including shoes, umbrellas and a traveling bag.

Bacolod said none of the passengers were hurt during the chaotic exit and the long walk to either the GMA-Kamuning or Cubao station.

Officials said the driver and some passengers put out the fire using fire extinguishers on board the train.

Chief Inspector Danilo Jamito, commander of the Quezon City Fire District’s Station 4, said the incident was first reported at around 9 a.m. and a fire out was declared at 9:15 a.m.

According to an initial investigation, the fire was caused by a short circuit in the “line contractor” of the train’s engine. Bacolod said the short circuit could have been caused by water seepage, due to the heavy rains in the past few days.

Bacolod said they were able to partially resume operations from Shaw Boulevard to Pasay Taft at 9:30 a.m. He added that the train, which was brought to the MRT’s depot at the North Avenue station, will be examined further. 

The MRT operated around the clock last Monday and Tuesday in an experiment to see if operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week was viable. The experiment was stopped after officials noticed the late runs chalked up disappointing numbers.