Eurostar services between Britain and the continent have been suspended after smoke was detected in the Channel Tunnel.
The Eurostar Twitter account announced that all trains currently in service would be sent back to where they had started from.
No further trains will be running on the service for the rest of the day.
SERVICE UPDATE – Due to smoke detection in the Channel Tunnel, all services are currently suspended, more info to follow.
— Eurostar (@Eurostar) January 17, 2015
“All trains are returning to original stations as Tunnel closed until further notice following smoke detection,” it tweeted this afternoon.
The Eurotunnel service, which operates vehicle carrier trains through the tunnel, said on Twitter that tunnel had been closed due to an “incident”.
SERVICE UPDATE – No further services will be running today, more info will be updated this evening on http://t.co/deI6LKR0uH.
Eurostar (@Eurostar) January 17, 2015
“Due to an incident in the tunnel, all departures are currently suspended in both directions. We will update you with more info shortly,” the company’s account tweeted.
Hundreds of passengers were left stranded when Eurostar cancelled all of its services between Britain and the Continent Hundreds of passengers were left stranded when Eurostar cancelled all of its services between Britain and the Continent
Large queues of stranded passengers could be seen at London’s St Pancras International station, the hub for Eurostar services linking the UK to Paris and Bristol.
Kent Police said the smoke alert was caused by a lorry fire near the French end of the tunnel.