Bulgaria Sees 5th Train Fire in 3 Months

The engine of the train running from the Danube city of Ruse to Sofia caught on fire Saturday morning in Bulgaria's latest railroad scare.

The incident occurred around 10:40 am Saturday just as the Ruse-Sofia train was entering the town of Mezdra, northeast of Sofia, Darik Radio reported.

The locomotive was put out and removed from the train, and is to be replaced with another one so that the train can reach its final destination.

Nobody has been reported injured in the latest railroad incident in Bulgaria which is believed to have been caused by a short circuit.

This is the fourth train fire in Bulgaria in the past three months after in August the Sofia-Varna train caught on fire near the town of Cherven Bryag, shaking Bulgaria's state-owned railroad company BDZ.

On July 20, train No. 2615 of the Bulgarian State Railways BDZ caught on fire on route from the capital Sofia to the Black Sea city of Varna. The train was stopped and the 214 passengers were evacuated intact. However, the fire spread to the first two passenger cars before the fire brigade units arrived at the scene, more than an hour after the fire started, because of the rough terrain.

On June 29, 2011, a local train between Cherven Bryag and Montana in Northwestern Bulgaria had to stop near Vratsa because of a fire on board, without any victims.

On June 10, 2011, the locomotive of a freight train also caught on fire near Simeonovgrad in Southern Bulgaria, with the driver managing to flee intact.

The most severe train incident in Bulgaria since 1992 was also caused by a train fire when 9 persons were burned to death, and 9 others were injured in the night Sofia-Kardam train in February 2008 near Cherven Bryag.

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