By Lee Min-hyung
Hundreds of passengers evacuated from Hyehwa Station in Seoul, Wednesday night, after smoke filled a train.
There were no casualties.
"A smell of burning filled the train," one of the passengers surnamed Cho said.
"Everyone rushed out, but there was no immediate announcement by station employees."
She said the station was in a state of chaos, with people pushing one another to escape from the train bound for Danggogae Station. The incident took place at around 10:14 p.m.
"A few minutes after subway doors were opened, an announcement was issued that all the passengers should get out of the train as soon as possible," she said.
Firefighters were dispatched to the scene, but there was no fire.
Passesngers seem to have thought there was a fire due to the heavy smoke, a metro official said.
"We are investigating the exact cause of the incident," he said. "We assume the smoke came from the friction at a wheel break."
After noticing the smoke, a subway driver called 119 and let some 340 passengers get off the train.
Following the incident, subway service at the station was suspended for about 10 minutes.