The Sofia – Kardam train fire occurred on 28 February 2008, when the BDZ night train from Sofia to Kardam caught fire at 11:40 pm near the industrial zone of the town of Cherven Bryag, Bulgaria.
[1] The train was going to travel for the total railway distance of 623 km (387 mi) between Sofia and Kardam.
[4] Some of the theories concerning the start of the fire include a flame (possibly from a discarded cigarette or tobacco pipe), a lit window curtain, accumulated dust over-heating around the radiators, a lighting cable with partially missing rubber or plastic insulation, an incandescent lightbulb left without a safety glass around it, or a tourist's broken gas bottle containing liquefied petroleum under high pressure.
Additionally, the plastic cover around the two fluorescent lamps that contained tungsten filaments illuminated gas at each end of the cylindrical long lamp and incandescent spherical and transparent safety glass[relevant?]
The government was initially criticized for not immediately declaring a national day of mourning for the victims.