Thousands evacuated after fire in Moscow metro

Moscow, June 5 – Seven commuters were hospitalised and thousands evacuated from the Moscow metro on Wednesday after a high-voltage electric cable caught fire, filling station platforms with smoke at the height of the rush hour, emergency officials said.

The affected section of the metro was shut down temporarily as firefighters worked to put out the blaze.

A total of 47 people sought medical attention and seven were hospitalised, the emergencies ministry said, while the fire was extinguished in just over 40 minutes.

The health ministry said those hospitalised were suffering from smoke inhalation, while some of those who asked for medical help were suffering "from a serious reaction to stress." Psychologists were working at the scene.

The emergencies ministry said around 4,500 people were evacuated after the fire broke out in a tunnel between the Okhotny Ryad and Biblioteka Imeni Lenina (Lenin Library) stations close to the Kremlin at around 8:20 am (0420 GMT).

Russian television showed footage shot by witnesses of dense smoke filling the Okhotny Ryad station, one of the system´s oldest, which has exits close to the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Theatre.

Crowds built up on the platforms as loudspeakers told passengers the station was closed for a "technical reason", with many filming the smoke on their cell phones and no apparent panic.

Passengers exiting the station washed soot from their faces using fire hydrants.

The head of the Moscow metro system, Ivan Besedin, told the Interfax news agency that the fire started in a "complicated technical junction linked to the contact rail."

The fire appeared to have been caused by a short circuit, a law enforcement source told the Interfax news agency.

The Moscow Investigative Committee said it was launching a check into the circumstances of the accident.

The section of the metro line affected was shut down, with trains passing through without stopping, but reopened shortly after midday.

The stations evacuated are major hubs where passengers change lines.

Line closures are rare on the Moscow metro, which opened in 1935, and Muscovites complained of transport paralysis with 40 replacement buses unable to cope with the thousands of extra passengers and crowds gathering outside metro stations.

"In Moscow, you don´t need a war. It´s enough for a cable to burst into flames in a few places and people will crush and stamp on each other," journalist Maxim Ognenny wrote on Twitter.

 AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE