WASHINGTON — One woman aboard a subway train died and 83 other people were taken to hospitals here Monday after a downtown Metrorail tunnel filled with smoke during the evening rush, National Transportation Safety Board officials said. Two of the injured were reported to be in critical condition.
The train had just left L’Enfant Plaza station on the system’s Yellow Line and was on its way to the Pentagon when smoke from an unknown source in the tunnel began filling the cars. Officials said the driver tried to back the train into the station but was unable to do so, leaving passengers trapped in the cars for 30 to 40 minutes before firefighters arrived.
Emergency crews helped the passengers leave the smoke-filled train around 4:30 p.m., with riders walking through the tunnel leading back to the busy station, which serves as a transfer point for five of the system’s six lines. L’Enfant Plaza station was evacuated and closed for several hours, and some service on the Yellow and Green Lines was suspended through the end of the day.
Officials said late Monday that they had not determined the cause of the smoke, and the N.T.S.B. was investigating. Shortly before 11 p.m., the agency posted photos to Twitter of their investigators at work in the tunnel.
Officials at MedStar Washington Hospital Center said Monday night that 11 patients had been treated there and released and that seven patients remained at the hospital, including one in critical condition and another in serious condition. One firefighter was injured, emergency management officials said.
L’Enfant Plaza stop is near the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Communications Commission and several Smithsonian museums.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority posted a message on its website to inform riders of planned changes to rail service for Tuesday.
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