Nobody was hurt in the incident and most of the 200 passengers aboard the 17-carriage train were unaware the engine was on fire. One of the passengers said afterwards that sealed windows for the air-conditioning blocked out the smell and there was not very much smoke.
Pichitsamart Sunthranusorn and Niyom Chuenchom were the two drivers. They said they were heading for Wang Yen Station when they spotted smoke billowing from the locomotive’s engine compartment.
They added that they immediately stopped the train and tackled the fire. The locomotive was towed back to Kanchanaburi later and engineers say an initial inspection pointed to an electrical short-circuit as the cause of the blaze.
The Singapore to Bangkok Eastern & Oriental Express had arrived in Kanchanaburi on Saturday evening. The passengers on the train were mostly foreign and slept on the train before taking a rafting trip on the River Kwai.
Engine of Eastern Orient Express catches fire
News in Asia
The engine pulling the luxury Eastern & Oriental Express train caught fire near Kanchanaburi yesterday morning. The locomotive caught fire just 500 metres from Kanchanaburi Station and the two drivers together with other rail workers who rushed to help were able to quickly extinguish the fire.