Passengers trapped for hours as Eurotunnel train stops

Dozens of passengers were left stranded for roughly five hours after a Eurotunnel train stopped beneath the English Channel on Tuesday. The incident affected the 3:50 p.m. Eurotunnel Le Shuttle service between Calais and Folkestone. 

The service has returned to normal as of Wednesday morning. 

Operator Le Shuttle said a train's alarms went off, and the service was shut off to investigate the problem. The company later told the BBC that the train had not actually broken down but the alarms going off meant an investigation was needed. 

Footage posted to social media showed passengers being led through an emergency service tunnel, after having to abandon their vehicles. They were then transferred to a replacement train and taken to the Folkestone terminal in the UK. 

As of Tuesday evening, large queues had formed at the shuttle terminal for the 31-mile (50-kilometer) rail route between Britain and France. 

Passengers trapped for about five hours 

The Eurotunnel’s official Twitter account advised passengers to avoid using the terminal and asked them to come back on Wednesday morning.  

Passengers described a stressful and scary scenario as they walked through part of the tunnel on foot, some with their suitcases and pets. 

"The service tunnel was terrifying. It was like a disaster movie. You were just walking into the abyss not knowing what was happening. We all had to stay under the sea in this big queue. Fire and rescue were there,” Sarah Fellows, a passenger returning to Birmingham from vacation in France told the PA news agency. 

“There was a woman crying in the tunnel, another woman having a panic attack who was travelling alone,” she said. 

Michael Harrison from Cranbrook, Kent, one of the passengers on the evacuated train, told AFP that he "finally arrived in Folkestone six hours after boarding."

"Operations like this take time, but they are for everyone's safety and must be carried out with care," he added, saying this had resulted in longer crossing times. 

tg/sms (DPA, AFP, EFE)