Pacific National driver badly burnt in engine explosion

<p>A Pacific National driver has been badly burnt in an explosion on a freight train near Parkes in western New South West.</p> <p>A spokesman for NSW Ambulance Service told <em>Lloyd’s List</em> the man, believed to be in his 40s, suffered facial burns and second and third degree burns to his arms.</p> <p>"He had also fallen two metres and suffered abdominal injuries," the spokesman said. </p> <p>A Pacific National spokesman said the man was one of two drivers on the train.</p> <p>The train was about 18 km out of Peak Hill at 3.05 pm on Sunday when an engine caught fire.</p> <p>"There was a fire, one of our drivers went to investigate and then there was an explosion," the Pacific National spokesman told <em>Lloyd’s List</em> .</p> <p>Ambulance officers stabilised the driver’s injuries on the scene before a Careflight rescue helicopter flew him to Sydney’s Concord hospital.</p> <p>The driver is in a stable condition and not as seriously hurt as first feared, the ambulance spokesman said.</p> <p>"There was an original fear that he may have [suffered&#93 inhaled burns but that doesn’t seem to have happened," he said.</p> <p>Pacific National representatives were sent to meet the driver and his wife when they arrived in Sydney, and the company had also arranged for a counsellor.</p> <p>An investigation into the incident will be started as soon as possible, he said. </p> <br />