Dozens of commuters were injured and thousands had to be evacuated after a fire broke out in a Moscow metro tunnel during the morning rush hour Wednesday. According to dpa, the Moscow city government said 66 people had to receive medical treatment for smoke inhalation, and 19 of them were hospitalized. The fire broke out at around 8:30 am (0430 GMT) in a tunnel between the Okhotny Ryad and Biblioteka Imeni Lenina (Lenin Library) stations, in the heart of the Russian capital. The reason was a short circuit in a high-voltage cable, metro officials said. The fire was extinguished less than one hour later. More than 4,500 passengers were evacuated from the two stations, and some of them had to wait more than four hours until they could leave trains that had stopped in tunnels, according to news reports.
