55 people hospitalized after tunnel fire in Norway
8/5/2013OSLO, Norway — A semi-trailer truck caught fire in Norway’s second-longest tunnel today, leading to the evacuation of 160 people — 55 of whom were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation and other injuries.
The truck caught fire 2.17 miles into the tunnel in a district east of Bergen, police spokesman Jorn Lasse Refnes said. The Gudvangatunnelen is 7.08 miles long and is in the western part of Norway.
Rescue services spokesman Reinhardt Sorensen said the lights went out in the tunnel after the fire. Most of the injured suffered from smoke inhalation, but some people suffered light injuries after they crashed their cars in the darkness, he said.
The 160 people evacuated from the tunnel included the truck driver, who walked away uninjured, Sorensen said. He added that it wasn’t yet clear what caused the fire, which was extinguished.