Soviet Train Steward Jailed in Fatal Fire
A steward on a Soviet train has been jailed for 10 years for accidentally causing a fatal fire while he was drunk, the trade union daily Trud reported Friday.
Trud said Christo Ioanidi, 22, was himself trapped after a fallen cigarette started the blaze while he was drinking vodka with a passenger on the Volgograd-to-Rostov express.
Fellow stewards rescued him but there were “some other victims,” Trud said without elaborating.
The newspaper added that several stewards, especially on cars carrying army conscripts, had been speculating in alcohol to circumvent Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s strict anti-drinking measures.
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