Channel Tunnel Fire

Almost a half-mile stretch of the Channel Tunnel has been severely damaged by a fire which raged for 17 hours.

The blaze, which was finally put out today, left all Shuttle and Eurostar train services suspended until further notice. At least 15,000 people have been affected while the cost is likely to run to hundreds of millions of pounds.

A spokesman for the Pas de Calais fire brigade today gave the first indications of the full extent of the blaze, finally extinguished at 9.30am. "There's serious damage in the north tunnel. Around 700 metres are affected," said the spokesman, adding that at one stage 26 carriages on a single freight train had gone up in flames.

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