Two feared dead in Japan bullet train suicide fire

Two are feared dead in Japan after an apparent suicide attempt on board a moving shinkansen bullet train, similar to this one pictured. - AFP

"We have been informed that there was a passenger in a car on the train who covered him or herself with oil and set it on fire," said a JR Central spokesman.

The train -- a super-fast Nozomi bullet train -- was travelling from Tokyo towards Osaka when the fire broke out near Odawara, southwest of Tokyo.