MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. A fire which broke out at a metro station in Moscow’s southeast on Friday morning halted traffic at the busiest ‘purple’ line of the capital’s subway system, affecting thousands of morning commuters.

A high-voltage cable at the Vykhino station caught fire as a result of a short circuit at around 5:20 a.m., ten minutes before the station’s opening. It took firefighters an hour to put out the fire, however, traffic at the ‘purple’ line was partially resumed only by 9.00 a.m.

"The fire affected some 100 square meters," the Moscow emergencies department reported.

Rush-hour train delays on the ‘purple line’ caused stampede at a number of stations. Healthcare sources told TASS dozens were hurt in the stampede and sought medical aid.

However, the Moscow healthcare department said no one was injured in the incident.

Moscow Metro chief Dmitry Pegov said traffic on the ‘purple’ line will be fully restored by Saturday morning.

Friday’s fire became a trending topic of Moscow’s Twitter users.

Subway is Moscow’s most important and reliable transport link, serving up to 8 million people a day.