CNN - 'Outdated' equipment blamed in fire - Oct. 29, 1995

'Outdated' equipment blamed for Azerbaijan subway fire

October 29, 1995
Web posted at: 7:55 p.m. EST (0055 GMT)

BAKU, Azerbaijan (CNN) -- Saturday's fire in an Azerbaijani subway tunnel was the world's worst subway disaster -- about 300 people were killed, at least 28 of them children, and more than 200 others were injured.

Officials discounted rumors of sabotage and blamed "outdated Soviet" equipment for the disaster. Baku's subway cars, manufactured in the late 1960s, are susceptible to fire, said Valentin Ageyev, a Moscow fire department official.

Ageyev also speculated that the train's driver should have driven to the next station rather than stopping between stations.

"Stopping the train in the tunnel may pose a death threat to the passengers, because flammable materials account for 90 percent of the car finish," he said.

Witnesses said that sparks flew just after the train left the busy Ulduz station in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, early Saturday evening.

"As soon as the train entered the tunnel I saw a flash. Then the flames enveloped the train car, there was a sound of breaking glass, and the lights went out."

-- Tabil Guseinov, passenger on the train

Guseinov said that passengers panicked. "People started breaking windows to get out," he said. "We were starting to suffocate."

Azerbaijan's health minister, Ali Insanov, said that carbon monoxide poison caused most of the deaths and injuries.

Emergency rescue workers battled the fire until early Sunday morning, before they began to pull the dead and injured from the tunnel.

Ramil Usubov, Azerbaijan's interior minister, said Sunday morning that at least 289 people died. Morgue officials reported at least 303 bodies, and the independent news agency Turan quoted officials saying the death count was 337.

Insanov said that 269 people were injured, and that 62 were still hospitalized Sunday morning.

President Geidar Aliev ordered a government commission, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Abbas Abbasov, to investigate. The Azerbaijani government also declared two days of mourning for the dead.

Hundreds die in Azerbaijan subway fire

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'Outdated' equipment blamed for Azerbaijan subway fire

"As soon as the train entered the tunnel I saw a flash. Then the flames enveloped the train car, there was a sound of breaking glass, and the lights went out."

-- Tabil Guseinov, passenger on the train

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