A passenger is carried out of the bullet train, right, which made an emergency stop in Odawara, west of Tokyo
A man riding a Japanese high-speed bullet train set himself on fire yesterday, killing himself and another passenger as the coach filled with smoke, a fire official said.
At least 26 other people were injured, three seriously, mostly from smoke inhalation, Odawara Fire Department official Ikutaro Torii said.
The man’s motive wasn’t clear.
The passenger poured an oil-like substance over his head before setting himself on fire, authorities said. KyodoNews service reported that he used a lighter. Officials said the fire was at the front of the first car in the train, which was heading from Tokyo to Osaka.
“I said to myself, ‘This is bad!’” said Takeo Inariyama, a 54-year-old businessman traveling in the second car. “I saw everyone running toward me and smoke coming. Also the smell (of smoke) filled the car. So I felt my life was in danger.”
Public broadcaster NHK quoted another 58-year-old businessman as saying the man walked up and down the aisle a few times before returning with a plastic container that splashed a liquid on the businessman’s shoulder as he walked by.
The man then started dumping the liquid on the floor, and the businessman quickly left as he smelled gasoline, he said.
The train stopped on the outskirts of Odawara city, about 80 kilometers west of Tokyo, when a passenger pressed an emergency button after finding someone collapsed on the floor near a restroom at the back of the first car, a transport ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
The passenger on the floor, a woman, was later pronounced dead, reportedly from inhaling smoke.
Crew members rushed to extinguish the fire, said Kengo Sasaoka, a spokesman for Central Japan Railway Co., which operates the bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka.
TBS television broadcast a video of passengers evacuating the smoke-filled coach, some coughing, others covering their faces with towels and handkerchiefs. Ken Aragaki and Mari Yamaguchi, Odawara, AP
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