YOKOHAMA: Dying passengers scrambled in vain at the doors of a blazing electric train in which 98 perished here today [April 24] and more than 200 were injured. Sparks from an overhead cable are believed to have set the leading coach afire and the flames spread rapidly through two crowded coaches. Passengers tried to force the doors which would not open because the flames had cut off … power… . Others broke the windows and scrambled out only to fall to their deaths on the pavement more than 20 feet below the narrow elevated track. The fire ... left the leading coach a grim skeleton of twisted steel... . Eight children were among the dead, more than half of whom [were] women.

American and Japanese Red Cross teams rushed to the scene … to help the Japanese po­­lice... . It was nearly an hour before the ... carri­a­­ge had cooled enough to allow a search... . One 22-year-old Japanese, who managed to escape … through a smashed window, said over 100 were inside the burning coach. Cho­king smoke filled the coach within moments, as terror-stricken passengers struggled… . Many were trampled to death before the … fla­­mes engulfed their bodies.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2026