GERMANY: DEUTSCHE BAHN RAILWAYS RELEASE VIDEO SHOWING SAME TYPE OF CARRIAGE WHICH CAUGHT FIRE IN FRANCE KILLING TWELVE PASSENGERS

Record ID: 640681

  • Title: GERMANY: DEUTSCHE BAHN RAILWAYS RELEASE VIDEO SHOWING SAME TYPE OF CARRIAGE WHICH CAUGHT FIRE IN FRANCE KILLING TWELVE PASSENGERS
  • Date: 7th November 2002
  • Summary: (EU) FRANKFURT, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 6, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV EXTERIOR DEUTSCHE BAHN HEADQUARTERS IN FRANKFURT; MV LOBBY PRESS CONFERENCE (3 SHOTS) SOUNDBITE (German) HANS-GUSTAV KOCH, DEUTSCHE BAHN BOARD MEMBER FOR MARKETING AND SALES SAYING "All I can tell you is what I know which is that the conductor told the driver (about the fire) and that they then pulled the emergency brake. It is possible that workers on the tracks saw the fire but I can neither confirm or deny that." SLV CAMERA CREWS SLV MEDIA SOUNDBITE (German) HANS-GUSTAV KOCH, DEUTSCHE BAHN BOARD MEMBER FOR MARKETING AND SALES SAYING "A smoke detector in this case would not have helped much because the conductor is our smoke detector. There is one conductor per sleeping car and it is his job to rescue and evacuate people in an emergency for which he has been trained. This is precisely what he did, or at least he attempted to do so. He reported the fire and therefore a smoke detector would not have been more efficient than our conductor." MV KOCH BEING INTERVIEWED; SCU MODEL OF LOCOMOTIVE ON DISPLAY IN GLASS CABINET
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Disasters,General,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVABU6BSAUB2TDSJSJ17MOYJLAT7
  • Story Text: German railways Deutsche Bahn has released a video showing the same type of carriage which caught fire near Nancy, killing twelve passengers aboard the Paris-Vienna express train.
    Twelve people died of smoke inhalation on Wednesday (November 6, 2002) as fire destroyed a German sleeping car on a Paris-Vienna express train which railworkers stopped near the eastern French city of Nancy.
    The video showed a two-bed compartment with wood panelling containing fire resistant materials, according to Deutsche Bahn.
    The carriage where the fire occurred was built in 1964 and it was renovated in November 2001, according to Deutsche Bahn.
    Earlier on Wednesday (November 6), there was conflicting information on who stopped the train. A German railways spokesman told journalists it was the conductor aboard the train who spotted the fire and that he then stopped the train with the help of the driver.
    "All I can tell you is what I know which is that the conductor told the driver (about the fire) and that they then pulled the emergency brake," Hans-Gustav Koch, the Deutsche Bahn board member in charge of marketing and sales later told journalists.
    "It is possible that workers on the tracks saw the fire but I can neither confirm or deny that," Koch said.
    Asked again why the carriages were not fitted with smoke detectors, Koch said that "a smoke detector in this case would not have helped much because the conductor is our smoke detector."
    According to Koch, "there is one conductor per sleeping car."
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