200 tourists escape unhurt after fire in Thai luxury train

Nearly 200 foreign tourists had a narrow escape when a fire broke out in one of the two engines of an international luxury train soon after it departed from Thailand’s western Kanchanaburi station on Sunday.

The fire broke out in Eastern Oriental Express carrying tourists mostly from Europe at 8.20am local time, police said. There were no reports of deaths or injuries, but the fire caused severe damage to the engine.

Pichitsamart Suntaranusorn, one of the two train drivers, said he noticed heavy smoke coming out of the front engine when the train was about 500 metres from Don Rak station.

He and the other train driver stopped the train and disconnected the front engine. The passenger coaches were then pulled back to Don Rak station by the rear engine.

The cause of the fire was not known. However, it may have been caused because of the 30-year-old engine used.

The Eastern Oriental Express is a luxury tourist train departing from Bangkok to Singapore with a stopover at Kanchanaburi for a night. The train was originally scheduled to return to Singapore tonight. The classic route for the train is the 2,019-kilometre journey from Bangkok to Singapore (or vice versa).