[originaltext] Officials in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan now fear

Officials in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan now fear more than 300 people were killed Saturday in a huge subway fire. Peter Collins has details in Moscow. "The fire broke out Saturday evening in an underground railway train as it was moving between two subway stations in central Baku. Reports say an electrical fault, perhaps a high voltage spark or a motor catching fire, set the train ablaze. It stopped, trapping hundreds of passengers underground in thick smoke. Most victims apparently died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Eye witnesses say there was panic as the tunnel began to fill with smoke. Passengers broke windows in their attempts to get out. Rescue workers who struggled throughout the night to pull out bodies of the dead said the smoke was so thick at first that they were unable to get to the train. Azeri President Gaidar Aliev has set up a special commission to investigate the fire. It was yet to announce its findings but President Aliev suggested on television that a technical fault was to blame. Some 20 people have died and dozens have been injured in two bomb attacks in the Baku subway system over the past 18 months. Peter Collins, VOA news, Moscow.