Thirty feared dead in Mont Blanc tunnel fire
Friday, 26 March 1999
An investigation has begun into the fire in the tunnel under Mont Blanc, which has claimed the lives of at least 30 people. Rescuers are reported to have found at least thirty charred vehicles in the eleven kilometre tunnel. Eleven bodies have been recovered. The blaze broke out on Wednesday on board a Belgian registered truck carrying flour and margarine.
Firefighters from France and Italy are still attempting to extinguish the blaze, which broke out in a lorry in the middle of the tunnel on Wednesday morning and spread rapidly. Fire fighters are currently working in thick smoke and high temperatures to try to clear the wreckage of trucks and cars strewn in the middle of the tunnel.
Rescuers said intense heat in the tunnel caused paint on the trucks to blister and tyres to explode. It has been reported that the tunnel roof has caved in, the road's asphalt has melted and that temperatures in the confined area are still around 1,000 degrees centigrade.
It is not known how the fire aboard the food truck began. It spread from a Belgian-registered truck to at least eight other lorries on the Italian side of the seven-mile tunnel. The tunnel, which links France and Italy, has been closed since the fire began.
