Commuters of the BTA Orange metro Line train in Boston were met with a nasty surprise on Thursday morning as a train caught fire over the Mystic River Bridge.
It was roughly 7am in the morning when the front carriage of the train burst into flames. Vast flames and smoke could be seen far from where the accident took place, as seen in the video which surfaced on social media shorly after.
Passengers desperately scrambled to get off the train, and lept on to the adjacent tracks. Passengers can be seen trying to distance themselves as much as possible from the burning train which looked as if it could explode at any moment. One person, overcome by fear, also jumped into the river below in a attempt to dive to safety.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak has said that the fire was caused by a piece of metal that came loose from the body of the train and came into contact with the power power rail, thus causing a reaction which sparked the beginnig of the fire.
According to reports, no one was hurt and the passenger who jumped in the river was safely picked up by the river patrol.
The events have unsuprisingly raised questions about themaintenance and safety of the metro system. The mayor of Boston has said that it is now time for “tranformation” and expressed the need to modernize the metro system.