As many as 20 passengers have suffered burns, three of them seriously, after they jumped from a train when it was engulfed by a forest fire near Castell?n in north-east Spain.
The train, en route from Sagunto in the eastern province of Valencia, to Zaragoza, stopped while the driver, seeing that the fire meant it was too dangerous to proceed, was preparing to reverse the train.
A number of passengers, fearing that the train would be consumed by the fire, panicked and fled after breaking windows to escape.
Two of those with the most serious burns were evacuated by helicopter while others, among them a young girl around 10 years old, were taken to nearby hospitals.
According to emergency services, a 58-year-old woman is among those who suffered the worst burns after fleeing the train.
The train, with 48 passengers on board, stopped and before the driver had managed to reverse away from the fire, several passengers broke the windows and escaped on to the tracks.
“Once they saw that they were surrounded by fire they got back on the train and several of them had suffered burns,” a spokesperson for the Spanish rail company Renfe said.
The Valencian president, Ximo Puig, said that more than 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as high winds fanned the flames in Bej?s, Valencia, adding that two firefighters had also suffered burns.
Valencia is the latest region to experience severe forest fires during Spain’s prolonged heatwave that has seen tens of thousands of acres of woodland destroyed.
The Bej?s fire has already consumed 800 hectares (1,900 acres) while elsewhere in the province a fire in the Vall d’Ebo continues to burn out of control after razing 11,000 hectares of forest.
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