What the records say
- When
- 6 Jul 1978
- Kind
- Rail accident
- Coordinates
- 51.02° N, 3.13° W
- Description
- fire on board a British Rail overnight sleeper train in 1978 near Taunton, Somerset.
- Deaths
- 12
- Injured
- 15
Taunton sleeping car fire
1978 train fire in Somerset, England
In the early hours of 6 July 1978, a fire broke out in a sleeping car train near Taunton, Somerset, England. The fire was caused by an electric heater that had been obstructed by sacks of dirty bed linen, causing it to overheat. Most deaths were due to smoke inhalation. Twelve people were killed and 15 were injured.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA · Read the article
2 sources record it
- Wikidata: air, rail, road, mining and industrial accidentsWikidata contributorsCreative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)Source page
- Wikipedia year pages (English), by Wikipedia contributorsWikipedia contributors · names it “Eleven people are killed in the Taunton train fire”Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0Source page
Nearby in time and place
- 1978 smallpox outbreak in the United KingdomAug 1978 · Epidemic
- 1980 St Pauls riot2 Apr 1980 · Riot
- murder of Margaret Frame12 Oct 1978 · Murder
- Убийство на Георги Марков7 Sep 1978 · Murder
- Representing Luxembourg, Anne-Marie Besse finishes sixteenth in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 with the song Frère Jacques7 May 1977 · Event
- murder of Carol Wilkinson1977 · Murder
- assassination of Airey Neave30 Mar 1979 · Assassination · Deaths 1
- Lancaster House Agreement, an independent agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London21 Dec 1979 · Event