Night train to Amsterdam, Hamburg evacuated after fire breaks out in Austria tunnel

The emergency services in Austria evacuated 151 passengers from an international night train late last night due to a fire in the Terfner tunnel in the Tyrol region. The Nightjet train was heading to Amsterdam and Hamburg, NOS reports.

Thirty-three passengers had to go to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. The other passengers received medical attention at the scene, local media reported. According to NS, there were likely also Dutch people on the train, though it is unclear whether any of them were among the injured.

The fire in the 15-kilometer-long tunnel broke out around 9:00 p.m., likely after a damaged overhead line fell on a train transporting cars. According to the Tiroler Tageszeitung, 20 fire brigades from the area responded, deploying around 700 firefighters. They evacuated the train, extinguished the blaze, and ventilated the tunnel.

The evacuated travelers were sheltered in tents until buses came to take them to hotels in Innsbruck, an NS spokesperson told ANP. It is unclear when they’ll travel the rest of the way to their destinations.