Next stop, City Hall: SMRT staff evacuate train passengers after white smoke fills cabin

SMRT staff evacuated train passengers on Thursday (Sept 7) night, after white smoke filled a cabin.

A video clip of the incident, posted on SGFollowsAll's Instagram page, showed a number of commuters covering their noses as they alighted from the train at City Hall MRT station.

Several passengers, however, remained in their seats, prompting station staff to step into the cabin to evacuate them.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw5LcCwtz_C/[/embed]

In response to AsiaOne's queries, SMRT Trains said that smoke was coming from a train at the east-bound platform at around 9.50pm.

According to the train operator, there was a refrigerant gas leak from the air-conditioning system.

"The affected train, a first generation train which commenced service as early as in 1987, was withdrawn from service," said Lam Sheau Kai, president of SMRT Trains.

Apologising for the service disruption, he said the station staff safely disembarked all commuters on board the affected train and advised them to board the next train.

"Our staff did not receive any reports of commuters who required medical attention," Lam added.

Train services continued to run normally after the incident. 

ALSO READ: Passengers disembark train at Kembangan MRT station after white smoke seen in cabin

ashwini.balan@asiaone.com