Two Dead In Bullet Train 'Suicide' Fire

Two people are dead and many others injured after a reported suicide attempt on a bullet train in Japan.At least nine other passengers had to be treated for smoke inhalation after the man doused himself in flammable liquid and lit a cigarette lighter as the train sped through the Japanese countryside at up to 300km per hour (186mph).
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said the blast was heard from a toilet at the front of the train and the first carriage filled with smoke, prompting a passenger to press the emergency stop button.
"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 JR Central spokesman was reported as saying.
A spokesman for the Odawara Fire Department said: "We received information indicating that a fire broke out near a toilet and two people were in cardiopulmonary arrest."
1/15The term is often used by emergency workers in Japan, before they are able to officially certify someone as dead.
NHK reported the two dead were found on the floor of the front car, but at opposite ends of the carriage, adding that they were a man, 71, and a woman.
One man is in a serious condition in hospital, three others are badly hurt and around 20 were treated for smoke inhalation.
It is not known what the motive was for the fire.
There were two self-immolations last year, both in Tokyo: a man who opposed the prime minister's plan to reform the country's pacifist constitution and another who was protesting against the country's controversial move to expand its military role.
The train, a super-fast Nozomi bullet train, was travelling from Tokyo towards Osaka when the fire broke out near Odawara, west of Tokyo.
Despite serving an average of more than 400,000 passengers each day, Japan's rail network has an excellent punctuality rate and nobody has been killed in a crash for 50 years.