Up to 20 passengers suffered burns, three of them seriously, after they jumped from a train when it was engulfed by a forest fire near Castellon in the northeast of the country. Spain.
The train, which was on its way from Sagunto in the eastern province of Valencia, stopped to Zaragoza, while the driver, seeing that the fire meant it was too dangerous, was preparing to reverse the train.
A number of passengers panicked and fled after smashing windows to escape, fearing that the train would be engulfed in flames.
Two with the most severe burns were evacuated by helicopter while others, including a young girl of about 10 years, were taken to nearby hospitals.
According to emergency services, a 58-year-old woman is among those who suffered the most severe burns after fleeing the train.
The train, which had 48 passengers on board, stopped, and before the driver could turn back away from the fire, several passengers smashed windows and ran to the rails.
“As soon as they saw that they were surrounded by fire, they went back to the train and many of them were burned,” a spokesman for the Spanish railway company Renfe said.
More than 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes as high winds set fire to Baiges, Valencia, said Valencia’s president, Zemo Puig, adding that two firefighters also suffered burns.
Valencia is the latest region to experience severe wildfires during Spain’s prolonged heat wave that has seen tens of thousands of acres of forest destroyed.
The Baiges Fire has already consumed 800 hectares (1,900 acres) while a fire elsewhere in the county is still spiraling out of control after destroying 11,000 hectares of forest.
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