Austria: ICE train passengers stuck for 6 hours in tunnel
Some 400 passengers left hot and in the dark on an Intercity Express (ICE) train in a tunnel near Vienna have been freed after an evacuation operation lasting more than six hours.
The high-speed Deutsche Bahn train was traveling from the Austrian capital to the northern German city of Hamburg.
Less than 15 minutes into the journey, the train stopped moving in a tunnel around 1:30 p.m. (1130 UTC/GMT) on Saturday due to a power failure, Austria's APA news agency cited the Austrian ÖBB railways as saying.
Austrian media reported that passengers were stuck in the heat for hours after the air conditioning stopped because of the power failure. The lights were also partly off, Austrian media reported.
With the help of around 100 rescue workers, the operation of freeing the passengers from the tunnel took more than six hours.
Why did the ICE evacuation take so long?
The delay was partly because of passengers entering the tunnel, ÖBB said.
As passengers were transferring to a replacement train within the tunnel, some people decided to leave on foot, the rail operator said.
For safety reasons, the power in the tunnel had to be turned off again, which meant the replacement train was unable to continue its journey.
Passengers were instead evacuated from the tunnel via emergency exits, which was completed around 8 p.m.
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Passengers were then brought back to Vienna on buses.
Two passengers were treated at the scene, APA reported, but none needed to be hospitalized.
The ÖBB warned of ongoing delays to long-distance trains out of Vienna as staff ensured no people remained inside the tunnel.
A spokesperson for German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said on Saturday evening that the train had a technical problem.
However, the spokesperson noted that ÖBB operated the section within Austria.
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