34 on Train Hurt in Channel Tunnel Fire

Firefighters from France and Britain battled a fire aboard a truck-shuttle train deep inside the Channel Tunnel in which 34 people were reported injured, two of them seriously. The blaze, the first major incident since the undersea rail link opened between Britain and France two years ago, started in a cargo truck carrying polystyrene en route from Britain to France. A civic official in the French port of Calais said the two most seriously injured people were taken to a hospital in Lille. Their lives were not in danger, he said. Six others were hospitalized in Calais, and 26 were given first aid for smoke inhalation. A spokeswoman for Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel said the train was still on fire. The 35-mile-long tunnel linking England and France was closed after the train, used to transport trucks and their drivers, was evacuated about 12 miles from the French end of the tunnel.