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| Charing Cross station evacuated after fire on train | Charing Cross station evacuated after fire on train |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| One of London’s busiest railway stations was evacuated while emergency services dealt with a fire on a train. | |
| Charing Cross station was closed for about two-and-a-half hours on Sunday morning after a “small fire” in the front carriage of a Southeastern train, which was quickly brought under control by London Fire Brigade. | |
| Two people were checked over by paramedics but no one was injured in the incident, believed to have been caused by an electrical fault. | |
| Eileen Harris, 60, and her son Daniel, 26, were heading to Tunbridge Wells on the Hastings train when the fire started while it was on platform six. | |
| “Suddenly the doors burst open and a woman ran through shouting there’s a bomb on the train, everybody get off,” she said. “We ran away towards the opposite end of the station because I thought that if there was a bomb, they’d probably take out the concourse. | |
| “But the staff kept saying to us come back in and we really didn’t want to come back through the station, because by then there was thick smoke. | |
| “Where the fire was there were big bangs and pops and flashes. And the smoke, the smoke was the worst thing.” | |
| Her son said: “There was fire and lots of thick smoke, so we assumed that there was a bomb ripping through the train. | |
| “People were running through the train and my first thought was the reason they’re running down the train is because they can’t get off.” They left their possessions on the train but police later retrieved them. Photographs and video posted on social media, showed the flames and people fleeing the station. | |
| Several fire engines and London Ambulance Service vehicles could be seen outside the station, which is by Trafalgar Square. Around 100 people were in the station when it was evacuated at 10.50am and some 35 firefighters and six fire engines from Soho, Euston and Lambeth attended the incident. London Fire Brigade said about 5% of the front carriage had been alight. | |
| Annika Anwary, who works in the station and saw the fire, said: “I was in the staff room. I heard the alarm so I came upstairs and I saw the train was burning on the platform. | Annika Anwary, who works in the station and saw the fire, said: “I was in the staff room. I heard the alarm so I came upstairs and I saw the train was burning on the platform. |
| “There were quite a lot of flames and flashing lights as well. People were just all running out of there.” Station manager Norman Perry said: “As well as tackling the fire, firefighters ensured the station and its shops and cafes were properly ventilated so it was safe for people to come back onto the concourse as soon as possible.” | |
| The station reopened at 1.15pm but the disruption to services in the capital, which also affected Blackfriars and London Bridge stations, was expected to continue into mid-afternoon on Sunday at least, with passengers travelling in or out of Charing Cross warned to expect delays of up to 60 minutes. | |
| A British transport police spokesman said: “At this stage, the fire is believed to have been the result of an electrical fault and there are no suspicious circumstances. | |
| “The station was evacuated as a precaution and no one was injured.” | |