This video shows the moment passengers struggle to breathe as several metro wagons fill up with smoke when a vehicle on the street below catches fire.
Footage shared on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese version, shows people in Shanghai’s Metro Line 1 nearly suffocating after the privately owned vehicle lit up on Thursday, 14th December.
The vehicle, reportedly a small truck carrying home appliances, caught fire on the elevated Fenchuan Road outside of the Gongfu Xincun station. At approximately 6:45am, after which the smoke drifted into the station hall, platform, and nearby wagons.
Shanghai Metro later posted a statement on their X (formerly Twitter) page, saying: “It is reported online that there is smoke in the carriage of Line 1.”
Smoke exhaust devices were activated in both the station and the wagons. Whereas firefighters from the Baoshan District Fire Rescue Department joined their forces to evacuate the people to safety.
The station reinforced on-site announcements and passenger guidance to ensure safe passage for the affected passengers.
The fire in the private vehicle was successfully extinguished at 7:05am, said metro officials.
They stated that railway traffic was not affected during the operation, and added that nobody was injured in the incident.
