Three injured in San Francisco-area commuter train fire
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Three people were injured in a train fire that snarled the morning commute for riders of San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system on Thursday, transit officials said.
Passengers were evacuated after the fire broke out on the outside of a three-car train in Oakland around 4:30 a.m. and three people were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries, BART spokesman Jim Allison said in a statement.
No details were immediately available about the nature of the injuries.
Several stations were closed before service was restored roughly four hours later on the affected East Bay lines, Allison said. He added that residual delays were possible.
"It's really stressful right now. I really want to go to work, but I guess I have to wait," rider Malou Golladay told local broadcaster NBC Bay Area.
Pictures of the train published by local media showed heavy charring along the bottom of the car and near one of the doors. BART said the fire may have been caused by electrical arcing.
BART spokesman Taylor Huckaby said it was not immediately clear whether the fire moved inside the car, but that preliminary reports indicated some passengers attempted to leave the train by kicking out a window.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
