Part of the Palma metro had to be evacuated this morning (Tuesday) after a fire in the roof of a train carriage. The incident occurred around half seven, when the train was in the tunnel between the Jacint Verdaguer and Son Costa-Son Fortesa stations.
The driver stopped the train and passengers were evacuated. There was a great deal of smoke and three people needed treatment for smoke inhalation. Two of them, both employees with the SFM rail operator, were taken to hospital. Meanwhile, the section of the metro was also cleared of passengers.
It is believed that the fire was started by an electrical fault. Police have totally ruled out any form of terrorism.
National and Palma police as well as Palma fire crews went to the scene, while SFM mobilised all available staff to get the tunnel and station back to normal and remove the damaged train. There was naturally a disruption to service, and it took until half nine to restore the service.
A spokesperson for the Palma fire brigade explained that the lighting system had to be cut off. In order to evacuate passengers under the circumstances as they were, it was necessary to switch off the whole electrical system. "We cannot have fifty people walking through a tunnel with the electricity still on," said Rafael Bonnin.