Up to 20 passengers suffered burns, three of them seriously, after they jumped from a train when a forest fire engulfed it near Castellon in the northeast. Spain.
The train, which was on its way from Sagunto in the eastern province of Valencia to Zaragoza, stopped while the driver, seeing that the fire meant it was too dangerous, was preparing to reverse the train.
A number of passengers panicked and fled after smashing windows to escape, fearing that the train would be engulfed in flames.
Two with the most severe burns were evacuated by helicopter while others, including a young girl of about 10 years, were taken to nearby hospitals.
According to emergency services, a 58-year-old woman is among those who suffered the most severe burns after fleeing the train.
The train with 48 passengers on board stopped and before the driver could turn back away from the fire, several passengers smashed windows and escaped to the rails.
“As soon as they saw that they were trapped in the fire, they went back to the train and many of them were burned,” a spokesman for the Spanish railway company Renfe said.
More than 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes as high winds set fire to Baiges, Valencia, said Valencia’s president, Zemo Puig, adding that two firefighters also suffered burns.
Valencia is the latest region to experience severe wildfires during Spain’s prolonged heat wave that has seen tens of thousands of acres of forest destroyed.
The Baiges Fire has already consumed 800 hectares (1,900 acres) while a fire elsewhere in the county is still spiraling out of control after destroying 11,000 hectares of forest.
