French Train Fire Kills 12

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 06, 2002

French Train Fire Kills 12

A train heading for Austria caught fire as it was leaving a city in eastern France, killing 12 people, officials said Wednesday. Nine people were injured.

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A train heading for Austria caught fire as it was leaving a city in eastern France, killing 12 people, officials said Wednesday. Nine people were injured.

The fire broke out as the train was leaving the city of Nancy, officials in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region said. The train had been heading from Paris to Vienna via Strasbourg, near the border with Germany.

France Info radio reported that the victims were killed in their sleep by smoke inhalation. Authorities were initially attributing the cause to a heating system malfunction.

Those killed were six men, five women and one child, authorities said. Their nationality was not immediately clear.

The injured were taken to a university hospital in Nancy. Regional official Jean-Francois Cordet said Americans, as well as French, British and German nationals, were among those hurt.

A train conductor alerted authorities at about 2:15 a.m., when he noticed smoke pouring from a train wagon, officials said.

The train was stopped on a track outside the Nancy train station and firefighters intervened.

Fatal train accidents are extremely rare in France, whose high-speed rail network is a model for other countries.

Source: Agencies

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