Smoking power bank disrupts Taipei Metro Blue Line train

Taipei, Aug. 11 (CNA) A passenger's power bank began smoking on a Taipei Metro train on the Bannan Blue Line on Tuesday, prompting Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. (TRTC) to transfer about 1,200 passengers to another train, the company said.

A post by an unidentified observer on Threads said a power bank caught fire on a Bannan Line train at around 8 a.m., resulting in flames that were "huge," and it added that many passengers were made to get off the train.

Though it did not comment specifically on a fire or the size of the flames, the company said a passenger on a train heading east from Taipei Main Station on Tuesday morning reported over the intercom that an object inside the train was emitting smoke.

Upon receiving the report, the metro traffic control center notified police, the fire department and the rapid transit police brigade, the company said.

A station master boarded the train to check the situation and found that a passenger had already used a fire extinguisher on the device.

The company then arranged for about 1,200 passengers on the train to transfer to another train that came two minutes later, according to the TRTC.

Police and firefighters will investigate the incident, it said.