TOKYO, June 30 : A man set himself on fire on board a moving bullet train in Japan on Tuesday, killing himself and one other person, in an unprecedented incident on a network with an enviable safety record.
Several other passengers had to be treated for smoke inhalation after the man doused himself in flammable liquid and lit a cigarette lighter on the train as it hurtled through the countryside around 70 kilometres (45 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
The Yomiuri Shimbun daily said a blast was heard from a toilet stall at the front of the train, filling the front carriage with choking white smoke, and provoking an emergency stop.
Media reported that the driver of the 300-kilometre-per-hour train, which had around 1,000 passengers on board, found the still-burning body of the man after the emergency stop.
"We have been informed that there was a passenger in a car on the train who covered him or herself with oil and set it on fire," a spokesman for operator JR Central said.    ?AFP