Eurotunnel to resume some services

Eurostar passengers are stuck in Brussels and Paris after a lorry fire in the channel tunnel

Eurotunnel says it expects to resume some vehicle and freight services through the Channel Tunnel on Saturday night following a lorry fire.

Eurostar, which operates passenger trains, cancelled 26 services on Saturday, but said it will run a "full service" on Sunday, with some delays.

But passengers without a train booking should not go to stations, it warned.

No-one was hurt in the fire, which occurred at the French end of the north tunnel.

Passengers were safely evacuated from trains in the tunnel, and the fire "was quickly brought under control by the emergency services", Eurotunnel said on its Twitter account.

The company, which runs vehicle and freight shuttles through the tunnel, said an inspection was under way and added that it anticipated resuming services later on Saturday evening through its south tunnel, which was unaffected by the fire.

Further delays

The director of public affairs at Eurotunnel, John Keefe, said the north tunnel was being cleaned up and having damage repaired.

Eurostar will be running a "full service" on Sunday for passengers who have "an existing reservation for this date", it said in a statement.

Services would be subject to delays of between 30 and 60 minutes because the north tunnel is expected to remain closed, it added.

"We would strongly advise passengers whose journeys were impacted today by the problems in Eurotunnel not to come to our stations unless they have rebooked through our contact centre," Eurostar said.

Eurostar's customer care number is 03432 186 186, or +44 1777 777 878 for people outside the UK.

Eurotunnel's information line is +44 8444 63 00 00.

Earlier, Eurotunnel had said the alarm was raised when two CO2 detectors were triggered at 11:25 GMT.

A load on a lorry on board a train, en route from the UK to France, had been "smouldering", a Eurotunnel source said.

The train is still in the tunnel, about a third of the way from France.

Eurostar - which operates passenger services through the tunnel between Paris, London and Brussels - said 26 of its trains have been cancelled on Saturday afternoon.

One passenger Ben Lawton described how he was taken to a "makeshift medical centre in Calais" after being evacuated from a train inside the tunnel and given a gas mask.

"We were taken to an airtight concrete room within the tunnel and had to wait for two hours. Then we were taken by coach to Calais," he said.

Eurotunnel trains being held at Folkestone

Passengers queuing at St Pancras to rebook their Eurostar tickets

Lorries bound for the Eurotunnel service are queuing at Folkestone

Another passenger Johnny Chatterton was travelling by Eurostar from London to Paris when his train was sent back to St Pancras, having been stopped at Ashford.

He said there was a queue of up to 400 people at St Pancras station.

"We've been told we have to try and book again, possibly for tomorrow," he said.

John Hope was travelling to Paris with his girlfriend when their train was turned back.

"This was meant to be a birthday treat for my girlfriend but it has turned into a pretty poor experience all round," he said.

Stephen Hicks' train was turned back towards Paris after it was diverted. He was in a group of 12 travelling from Les Moutiers to Ashford on a "fully occupied train," he told the BBC.

"Our train was stopped at Lille and there was confusion over what was happening. We are going to be in Paris for the night but we have no idea where we'll be staying."

Nigel Harris, managing editor of Rail Magazine, said thousands of passengers could have been disrupted by the fire.

"If you have 26 trains cancelled or reversed with a capacity of 780 people per train that is over 20,000 people immediately affected by the train that we know about."

Eurostar trains are seen here being held at Paris Gare du Nord station

Police are seen here at a Eurostar train at St Pancras International

Passengers are queuing at St Pancras to rebook their tickets

The Independent's travel editor, Simon Calder, said it was going to be difficult for people trying to make alternative travel arrangements as there were not "that many flights between London and Paris and Brussels on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday morning".

He added: "Motorists who were going on the tunnel from Calais to Folkestone will of course be able to just switch to one of the ferries which are operating."

Because it is closer to France, Eurotunnel's French incident control centre at Calais is co-ordinating the response to the incident.