The crisis halted the renowned high-speed train service on the Tokaido Line between Tokyo and Osaka, two major Japanese cities.
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I addition to the individual who self-immolated by pouring fuel all over himself, another passenger was killed after the carriage quickly filled with smoke – six people were reported injured.
It said the man had caused the most serious incident ever on a Shinkansen in the trains’ spotless safety history.
The train stopped after another passenger found a victim collapsed in the train’s first vehicle and pressed the emergency button. Kyodo news service reported that he set himself on fire with a lighter.
There was no immediate indication of any possible motive for the man’s actions.
According to a Japan rail spokesperson a man had poured flammable liquid over himself, before setting himself alight in a toilet in the front carriage.
At least two people are feared critically injured according to reports, but few additional details are available at this time. Police think the woman may have died from smoke inhalation.
Footage screened on Japanese television showed a train passengers being ushered out of a carriage filled with smoke clutching handkerchiefs to their faces.
The train involved in Tuesday’s incident – a super-fast Nozomi bullet train – was travelling from Tokyo towards Osaka when the blaze erupted near Odawara, southwest of the capital.
By The Associated Press on June 30, 2015.
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Japan’s ultra-efficient shinkansen train network, inaugurated in 1964 as Tokyo readied to host the Olympic Games, now connects cities along the length and breadth of the country. It then moved slowly to Odawara station, where about 1,000 passengers got off.
