Many of the residents of the northeaster Bulgarian city of Dobrich panicked after the Sofia-Kardam train did not arrive on time, apparently fearing a repeat of the train fire tragedy in which nine persons perished on February 28.

The Sofia-Kardam train was more than two hours late because of a breakdown of the cooling system of the diesel engine, the Bulgarian National Radio reported.

Thus, the train had to stop for 113 minutes in the section between the towns of Devnya and Suvorovo in northeast Bulgaria until another engine was sent from the city of Dobrich to replace the broken one.

A total of 115 persons traveled in the regular carriages, and 15 persons in the sleeping car of the train. They were informed timely about the reason for the delay by the conductors and the transport police officers.

The train arrived in its end station Kardam on the Bulgarian-Romanian land border at 9:50, which was a total delay of 130 minutes.

The Sofia-Dobrich-Kardam line is the longest railway direct route in Bulgaria, amounting to 621 km.