Train No. 2615 of the Bulgarian State Railways BDZ has caught on fire on the route from Sofia to Varna.

The fire in the Sofia-Varna train erupted shortly before 6 pm on Wednesday in its locomotive near the village of Resen, Veliko Tarnovo District.

The train was stopped and the 214 passengers were evacuated intact. However, the fire spread to the first passenger car of the train since as of 6:40 pm the fire brigade units had not arrived on the stop, Georgi Ivanov, director of BDZ's Passengers' Travel Directorate, told Darik Radio.

The fire fighters arrived at 6:45 pm, more than an hour after the fire started, because of the rough terrain.

BDZ has promised to provide other means of transportation to the evacuees.

The incident with the fire in the Sofia-Varna train is the latest in a string of increasingly serious incidents.

On June 29, 2011, a local train between Cherven Bryag and Montana in Northwestern Bulgaria had to stop near Vratsa because of a fire on board, without any victims.

On June 10, 2011, the locomotive of a freight train also caught on fire near Simeonovgrad in Southern Bulgaria, with the driver managing to flee intact.

The most severe train incident in Bulgaria since 1992 was also caused by a train fire when 9 persons were burned to death, and 9 others were injured in the night Sofia-Kardam train in February 2008 near Cherven Bryag.