TRAIN COACHES GUTTED AT JO’BURG STATION

THREE Metrorail train coaches were gutted by fire at Johannesburg Park Station on Wednesday night in an incident which Metrorail said might be linked to a fight between hawkers and officials earlier in the day. Metrorail representative Lillian Mofokeng said on Thursday four people were wounded on Wednesday afternoon when a fight broke out between Metro officials and disgruntled hawkers who were being evacuated from station platforms. On Wednesday hawkers who had been evacuated from Germiston and Elandsfontein stations earlier in the week converged on Johannesburg Park Station where Metrorail officials were evacuating hawkers and a fight broke out. Mofokeng said several shots were fired wounding two commuters and two security guards. A hawker was arrested. Johannesburg emergency services spokesman Gerhard van Rooyen said the three empty coaches caught fire around 8.40pm on Wednesday night. He said the fire brigade was on the scene within two or three minutes and the fire was extinguished, but not before the coaches were badly damaged. – Sapa