Passengers Claim to Have Smashed Boston Train Windows to Escape Smoke
But the MBTA says there was never any smoke in any train.
— -- Passengers on a Boston subway at Quincy Station this morning panicked and smashed windows to escape a smoke-filled Red line train, according to witnesses.
A nurse who was in the train at the time told ABC News she started smelling something like "burning rubber" while they were stopped at Quincy station.
"The smell suddenly got worse when the conductor yelled, 'Everyone get off the train now!' Kristen Bellow, a nurse at Fisher College said. "The conductor might have said there could be a fire, but I'm not sure because of everything that was going on."
She said people became panicked and poured out of the train, but the doors of the car behind her never opened.
"A man on the platform yelled to break the windows and help get those people out," Bello told ABC News.
Bello said she and another man helped pull people out through a door.
"People were scrambling to get out," Bello added. "They were scared, and I don't blame them. There was smoke all over the platform, and it must have been in the train. You could smell it very heavily and taste it."
But there was never any smoke inside the train, according to Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
"No train was filled with any smoke," Pesaturo told ABC News. "There was no smoke whatsoever in the train. There was a mechanical problem, which resulted in a burst of small smoke outside of the train."
There was a failure in the propulsion system, he said.
"There was never any danger," Pesaturo added. "None one was injured. I don't know why the passengers acted the way they did. You can ask them."
He said it was announced on the train that it would be taken out of service.
However, some people who claim to have been on the train are contradicting the MTBA's statement.
One user on social media who claims she was on the train said there definitely was smoke.
The user also said that officials yelled, "Fire! Get off the train!"
The incident comes just weeks after a Washington, D.C. subway filled with smoke and left one person dead.