The train, a super-fast
Nozomi bullet train, was travelling from Tokyo towards Osaka when the fire
broke out near Odawara, west of Tokyo.
Two people are dead and many others injured after a reported suicide attempt on a bullet train in Japan.
Two people are dead and many others injured after a reported suicide attempt on a bullet train in Japan.
At least nine other passengers had to be treated for smoke inhalation after
the man doused himself in flammable liquid and lit a cigarette lighter as the
train sped through the Japanese countryside at up to 300km per hour (186mph).
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said the blast was heard from a toilet at the
front of the train and the first carriage filled with smoke, prompting a
passenger to press the emergency stop button.
"We have been informed that there was a passenger in a car on the
train who covered him or herself with oil and set it on fire," a JR
Central spokesman was reported as saying.
A spokesman for the Odawara Fire Department said: "We received
information indicating that a fire broke out near a toilet and two people were
in cardiopulmonary arrest."
The term is often used by
emergency workers in Japan, before they are able to officially certify someone
as dead.
NHK reported the two dead
were found on the floor of the front car, but at opposite ends of the carriage,
adding that they were a man, 71, and a woman.
One man is in a serious
condition in hospital, three others are badly hurt and around 20 were treated
for smoke inhalation.
It is not known what the
motive was for the fire.
There were two
self-immolations last year, both in Tokyo: a man who opposed the prime
minister's plan to reform the country's pacifist constitution and another who
was protesting against the country's controversial move to expand its military
role.
Sound like another terrorist attack. The world is full of evil
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