Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OSLO, Norway (AP) - A semi-trailer truck caught fire in Norway's second-longest tunnel Monday, leading to the evacuation of 160 people _ 55 of whom were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation and other injuries.
The truck caught fire 3.5 kilometers (2.17 miles) into the tunnel in a district east of Bergen, police spokesman Jorn Lasse Refnes said. The Gudvangatunnelen is 11.4 kilometers (7.08 miles) long and is in the western part of Norway.
Rescue services spokesman Reinhardt Sorensen said the lights went out in the tunnel after the fire. Most of the injured suffered from smoke inhalation, but some people suffered light injuries after they crashed their cars in the darkness, he said.
The 160 people evacuated from the tunnel included the truck driver, who walked away uninjured, Sorensen said. He added that it wasn't yet clear what caused the fire, which was extinguished.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
