Channel Tunnel shut after blaze

The Channel Tunnel has been closed after a fire broke out on a freight train about seven miles from Calais.

Thirty-two people on board the train were led to safety although 14 people suffered minor injuries, including smoke inhalation.

The blaze broke out at 1400 GMT about 11km (7 miles) from the French entrance, the operator Eurotunnel said.

The blaze has been contained but all trains have been suspended and thousands of passengers are stranded.

The fire was detected about four-fifths of the way through the 50km-long north tunnel on a freight shuttle travelling from Folkestone to Calais.

The French Interior Ministry said the lorry, which is understood to have overturned on the train, was carrying the chemical phenol, a toxic product used by the pharmaceutical industry.

The incident resulted in "minor injuries" but no-one was seriously hurt, Eurotunnel officials said.

"A train is now on its way from France to pick up the people from the service tunnel and take them back to France," a UK police spokesman said.

The French state train company SNCF said services would not resume until Friday.

It is understood that no trains are stuck in the tunnel.

Eurostar said five of its trains were en route when the fire broke out, with 2,000 passengers affected. All trains have now returned to the stations where they began their journeys.

Traffic has begun building up at the British end of the tunnel and there were queues of lorries and cars tailing from the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone.

Kent police have closed junctions eight to nine of the coastbound section of the M20 and sections of the motorway have been used to queue lorries as part of Operation Stack.

The Highways Agency has told motorists to expect delays of up to an hour on the M20.

Motorists at the Channel Tunnel entrance were being given vouchers by staff to board ferries at Dover.

Meanwhile, passengers waiting to board trains at London's St Pancras International terminal are being told to come back in the morning when it will be first-come, first-served to get on the trains.

Eurostar said anyone with a ticket for Friday would be able to travel if the trains were running.

Long queues of people have been trying to find out what was happening.

Some travellers said Eurostar had agreed to cover the cost of their overnight stays in London.

Eurolines, which is part of National Express, said later it had capacity to take Eurostar passengers to Paris and Brussels by coach.

Channel Tunnel passengers on 'nightmare' journey
Clive Evans and Albert Cole were on board a Eurostar train to Brussels to stay with friends for the week when their journey was terminated.

Mr Evans told BBC News website: "We got as far as Ashford and they said 'You're not going any further. You can either get off here and get the ferry to France' - God knows where the ferry goes from in Ashford - 'or you can go back to London.'"

He said: "We've just got back [to London]. It's total chaos. They say they can't put us up in hotels because there's too many of us. It's total disorder."

The Channel Tunnel has suffered several incidents since it opened to traffic in 1994 although only one - a fire in 1996 - caused casualties.

In August 2006, 34 people had to be led to safety after a fire broke out on a lorry being carried on a freight train.

Security exercises are staged in the Channel Tunnel by police, fire and ambulance services from both England and France to ensure preparedness for such incidents. (from BBC news)