LONDON: Following a mechanical issue, hundreds of people were evacuated from a Eurotunnel train travelling beneath the English Channel between Britain and France, according to its operators on Tuesday.
The company Getlink, which manages the rail connection between Coquelles in northern France and Folkestone in southeast England, reported that 400 individuals on Tuesday had to leave their cars behind.
Crowds of passengers were compelled to exit the train and proceed to the adjacent concrete service tunnel, which is often utilised by maintenance personnel, due to an alert on board.Sarah Fellows, a 37-year-old passenger, described the event as “terrifying.”
Another woman who was travelling alone was having a panic attack and there were two women crying in the tunnel.However, despite spending over five hours in the underwater tunnel, passengers said they were eventually shifted to a different train. The event delayed later trains from France by up to six hours.
It disrupted a train leaving Calais at 3:50 PM on Tuesday. According to Getlink operators John Keefe, when the first shuttle was hauled out and the passengers rejoined their vehicles, passengers were transferred to Folkestone.The safety of everyone is at stake, hence meticulous execution of such operations is required, he stated.