typicallyspanish.com

Spain News : Andalucía : Costa del Sol
+ Larger Font | + Smaller Font
Five kilometre walk though tunnel for train travellers
By h.b. - Oct 20, 2006 - 8:22 AM


The Málaga to Sevilla train stopped in the El Chorro tunnel
Fear and fright for a group of 80 rail passengers who were trapped yesterday morning in the El Chorro tunnel on the line to the north of Málaga.

They were on a train destination Sevilla and the train was brought to a stop by a passenger who saw smoke inside the train and then applied the emergency break. This could not then be released and the passengers had to walk as much as five kilometers to find their way out of the tunnel to the Gobantes station.

The Opinion de Málaga quotes one of the passengers who said the smoke appeared in the last carriage of the train and then spread under the seats to the front. The passengers were in the halted train some 20 minutes, using handkerchiefs in the face of the smoke before the order came to evacuate. The only light in the tunnel was that coming from the screens of the passengers mobile phones.

A RENFE spokesman said there were no injuries and the origin of the smoke was being investigated. The line was closed for five hours.

Meanwhile there was another rail incident locally with the derailment of a goods train in Gaucin.