Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 30, 1995 TAG: 9510300047
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
The death toll from the Saturday night disaster in Baku stood at 289 late Sunday, and the Azeri news agency Turan quoted firefighters as predicting that fatalities could reach 600.
Gases trapped in an aging tunnel ignited with a spark from a faulty high-voltage cable, blasting a hole in the roof of one car and filling the train with flames and thick smoke, Russian television reported.
The accident occurred about 200 yards from a station, and initial reports said 70 people were evacuated to safety before fire and smoke forced rescue workers away.
Accounts from survivors told of a harrowing overnight ordeal in which hundreds of panic-stricken passengers were stranded in dark, smoke-shrouded subway cars as the fire raged around them.
``I tried to open the carriage doors, but I couldn't manage,'' recalled one bandaged, gasping passenger interviewed by Russia's Independent Television network from his hospital bed in Baku, a city of about 2 million on the Caspian Sea.
When the steel doors were finally pried open by a younger man, ``it was like an avalanche of people spilling onto us,'' said the survivor.
President Heydar A. Aliyev proclaimed two days of mourning after the extent of the disaster became clear early Sunday when firefighters were able to quell the flames enough to reach the charred bodies.
The Azeri deputy prime minister put in charge of an accident inquest, Abas Abasov, told Turan the fire was caused by ``outdated Soviet equipment.''
The breakup of the centrally planned and supplied Soviet Union four years ago has left remote regions of the former Communist empire with big-city expenses that overwhelm populations impoverished by the chaotic transition to market economies.
Even in oil-rich areas such as Azerbaijan, investment in transport and public services has been minimal as corrupt officials and a flourishing mafia bilk the profitable industries for their own good. Azerbaijan's 7 million citizens have also been weakened by the protracted war with neighboring Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB