Channel Tunnel closed - breaking news

[bocadillo]

Reports coming in of another fire in the Channel Tunnel. No injuries reported. Eurotunnel and Eurostar trains at a standstill.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

On the French side of the tunnel, and is a very serious incident.

 

[bocadillo]

Fire in a lorry shuttle towards the French end. 30 people evacuated through link tunnels to a train running in the opposite direction.

Fire Brigade referring to it as a serious incident.

 

[Melton Fox]

running in the opposite direction

A phrase often associated with France.

 

[Darth Vodka]

no photos yet...surely the smoke has to billow out somewhere

 

[bocadillo]

Fire started in a lorry. Drivers and crew were evacuated via the service tunnel and not via the other running tunnel.

Fire under control but train still in tunnel.

 

[highland fox]

It might keep the Darkies out so it can only be a good thing

 

[Nottingham Fox]

The Skycopter is enroute!

 

[Darth Vodka]

It might keep the Darkies out so it can only be a good thing

are you Craigbot in disguise?

 

[MKFox]

on 9/11 (I know it's really 11/9) as well!

it maybe the beardies....

 

[Darth Vodka]

on 9/11 (I know it's really 11/9) as well!

it maybe the beardies....

11/9 was the Berlin Wall coming down

:icon_bigg

 

[Biff]

The Skycopter is enroute!

Wheres the Skysub............

 

[Biff]

11/9 was the Berlin Wall coming down

:icon_bigg

11th September 1941 : Charles A. Lindbergh has drawn widespread critism after his speech blaming "the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration" for trying to draw America into World War II. It is well known he a strong advocate
of Hitlers Nazi Germany.


11th September 1950 : Newspapers around the world are speculating that Russia is planning on starting World War III before October , but most informed analysts do not believe Russia wants to go to war more than anybody else and it is considered to be pure hype and speculation by the worlds press.



:icon_eek:

 

[Darth Vodka]

11th September 1941 : Charles A. Lindbergh has drawn widespread critism after his speech blaming "the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration" for trying to draw America into World War II. It is well known he a strong advocate
of Hitlers Nazi Germany.


11th September 1950 : Newspapers around the world are speculating that Russia is planning on starting World War III before October , but most informed analysts do not believe Russia wants to go to war more than anybody else and it is considered to be pure hype and speculation by the worlds press.



:icon_eek:

huh?

 

[Biff]

huh?

Look at the date, look at the date, we are doomed i tell you........

 

[newtonfox]

Look at the date, look at the date, we are doomed i tell you........

 

[bocadillo]

Now reporting that 8 people have suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation.

Couple of oddities though. The fire is said to have occurred in the 'north tunnel'. This is the tunnel that normally takes trains from the UK to France but this train is reported to have been UK-bound, which means that there must have already been some disruption to normal running.

There are also reports that the lorry, apparently a chemical tanker, caught fire after turning over. How a lorry could turn over in the confined space of the cage that is a Channel Tunnel freight shuttle is hard to imagine - there is just no room for this to happen.

Eurostar is saying that there will be no services until tomorrow but I can't imagine that the tunnel will be full open by then; at least a third of it seems likely to have to operate as a single line and many Eurostar , Eurotunnel and ordinary freight trains will have to be cancelled. Operation Stack will be brought in so that lorries can use the M20 as a carpark and the whole of the trunk road system in Kent will be plunged into the usual chaos.

 

[newtonfox]

By Crispian Balmer


PARIS (Reuters) - A fire on a freight train forced the closure of the undersea Channel Tunnel on Thursday, halting all rail traffic, including passenger services, between Britain and continental Europe, the tunnel operator said.


No one died in the blaze, which reportedly started on a lorry aboard the shuttle mid-afternoon, but six people fell ill after inhaling fumes and needed hospital treatment in Calais.


More than four hours after it started, about 100 firemen from Britain and France were still trying to put out the flames, although the Eurostar rail operator said the fire had been brought under control.


The 32 people traveling on the freight shuttle were led to safety through a service tunnel within minutes of the alarm being raised, and the train was halted some 11-km (7 miles) from the French mouth of the tunnel.


"There are no deaths. The truck drivers ... were evacuated through the service tunnel," French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said.


About 40,000 people a day use Eurostar to travel between Britain and the continent, according to Eurostar, and thousands of passengers were left stranded as a result of the fire, with eight trains forced to return to station.


Eurostar said it hoped that passenger services could resume on Friday, but French security officials said it was too early to say what damage might have been done to the tunnel.
"There was an explosion and then flames and a lot of smoke," said French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.