Counting the toll of the tunnel disaster
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The body of a British van driver feared dead in the Mont Blanc tunnel fire has yet to be formally identified.
Martin Cairns, 22, originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, was carrying medical equipment to Italy for Rotterdam-based haulier Leo Bergwerf.
According to Bergwerf, Cairns satellite link went dead when he entered the tunnel and nothing has been heard from him since. He had worked for the firm for 18 months.
The disaster started when a Belgian truck loaded with flour and margarine caught fire in the tunnel last Wednesday. A truck carrying tyres became jammed when its driver attempted a Uturn to avoid the blaze, resulting in a traffic jam.
Fumes and flames spread rapidly as they were fanned by a strong wind blowing from the Italian end of the tunnel.
Forty people are known to have died in the blaze—the temperature reached 1,000°C along a 700m section of the tunnel. Firefighters from ttaly. France and Switzerland joined forces bring the fire under control
France and Italy now plan to improve security in European road tunnels and to promote the use of railfreight. The tunnel will be shut for at least two months.