A train on line 8 of the Guangzhou subway was halted after catching fire at around 7:20 p.m. yesterday, leading to many passengers being locked inside while others escaped into the tunnel, according to Guangdong Satellite Television.

Passengers at Kecun wait for the delayed train

The subway line runs from Lujiang to Kecun and the train was about 200 meters away from Kecun when the incident happened. Thirty firemen arrived at the station within minutes. Many passengers are being treated for shock but no serious injuries have been reported.

Passenger Miss He told Nanfang Daily
said she heard an explosion and saw that there was a fire between the fourth and fifth carriages.

A member of staff then came and put the fire out with a fire extinguisher before anybody was hurt. A passenger surnamed Peng, who was in the second carriage, said the fire was not big but it burned an LED sign and caused smoke to spread quite far.

At 8:45 p.m, Guangzhou Public Security Bureau announced on its microblog that the problem was caused by a short circuit in the air conditioning.

The rail company has apologized but urged passengers to be calm in such situations and follow the staff’s instructions.

There were scenes of panic on the train as some passengers smashed windows and entered the tunnel to escape. Sun, a 41 year-old farmer from Hubei Province, was taking the subway for the first time when he heard the explosion.

The dirty hands of a passenger who had escaped down the tunnel

He followed other passengers in fleeing the train. They ran down the tunnel toward Kecun seeing nothing but darkness until they had almost arrived at the station.

No serious injuries were reported but some passengers were being treated for shock.