Authorities in D.C. are still dealing with electrical issues that left one person dead and dozens of others injured at a subway station yesterday.
According to NBC Washington, the incident took place at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in D.C. southeast section around 3:30 p.m. A Yellow Line train headed for Virginia suddenly stopped, leaving dozens of people trapped inside as its cars rapidly filled with thick plumes of smoke. Witness Fitz Carter described the scene to NBC Washington:
It was just very smoky in there, said passenger Fitz Carter from aboard a Metro bus waiting to be taken to a hospital. We couldn’t see anything. The visibility was poor. Right now, there’s a lot of burning in my throat and my chest. Everybody got as low as they possibly could to the ground, because that’s where the best possibility for oxygen was.
NBC Washington adds that 84 people were hospitalized, including three who are in critical, yet stable condition. Sadly, a woman who Metro General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Richard Sarles said was in "distress" on the train passed away. Her exact cause of death is unknown at the time. The Associated Press adds that this was D.C.'s first Metro fatality since 2009, when a crash left eight dead.
The origin of the smoke and fire remain unknown, but the NTSB is investigating.
[via NBC Washington and Associated Press]
