More than 750 straphangers had to wait two hours before being evacuated from smoke-filled subway under East River after train struck an object on the tracks
- The FDNY said the emergency happened around 5.30pm on Sunday after a 7 train ran over debris when it headed to Grand Central-42 St
- The train was disabled and came to an abrupt halt, with some passengers reporting they even saw flames on the tracks
- The straphangers had to be evacuated by fire crews from the smoke-filled subway cars
- A rescue train then took the passengers to safety after two hours. No injuries were reported, FDNY Deputy Chief Francis McCarthy said
More than 750 commuters were stranded under the East River for two hours and had to be evacuated by fire crews after smoke billowed into the subway cars when their Manhattan-bound train struck an unknown object.
The New York Fire Department said the incident happened around 5.30pm on Sunday when a 7 train ran over debris after pulling out of the Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue station in Long Island City.
The train heading to Grand Central Station was disabled under the East River, with some passengers reporting they saw flames on the tracks.
‘Everybody was like ”Whoa” and then it happened again. It was just crazy. It was scary…A lady started praying for us. I got kind of scared after that,’ passenger Resit Sihan told NBC.
Hundreds of straphangers had to be evacuated by fire crews from the smoke-filled subway cars but had to wait for a rescue train to arrive to bring them back to the Queens station.
No injuries were reported, FDNY Deputy Chief Francis McCarthy said after the accident.
Fire officials said the emergency might have been caused by a metal door on the tracks. DailyMail.com has reached out to the FDNY for comment.
More than 750 commuters in Queen were stranded for hours and had to be evacuated by fire crews after a 7 train ran over debris after pulling out of the Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue station in Long Island City
The train was disabled and came to an abrupt halt, with some passengers reporting they even saw flames on the tracks
Power was briefly shut off after false reports of passengers walking on the tracks and an ‘all-hands’ alert was issued by the FDNY
Power was briefly shut off after false reports of passengers walking on the tracks and an ‘all-hands’ alert was issued by the FDNY.
‘Once it was confirmed no one was on the tracks we had to put the power back on and get the rescue train out there to rescue the people trapped in the tunnel,’ McCarthy said.
After the incident, the evidently distraught passengers could be seen getting off the subway platform at the Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue station.
‘We are all fine. We are all okay, but we were there for two hours. Two hours, two long hours,’ Natalie Wermers told NBC.
‘What we noticed when we were in the car was a lot of smoke and a lot of the passengers were running towards the other end of the train,’ Sony Abraham also told the outlet.
Commuters were stranded for two hours before they were escorted by firefighters to the rescue train
After the incident, the passengers could be seen getting out of the Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue station
‘The train stopped and all of a sudden the emergency brakes … I was in the back car of the train and then the next thing we see is another train pulling up behind us and they send us all the way back to Queens,’ another passenger told CBS.
For hours, service on the 7 line was suspended as MTA crews removed debris from the tracks.
The New York City Subway alert Twitter account said that crews were investigating what exactly caused the incident.
The 7 line was up and running by late Sunday night, with some delays. Monday’s morning commute was not impacted.
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