PA Media reported the train was carrying hundreds of passengers – and even a few service dogs – enroute from France to England when the unthinkable happened.
Passengers report about 10 minutes into their ride the lights went out and the train stopped.
As if that isn’t scary enough – passengers were stuffed inside for 1.5 hours while the incident was “investigated.”
The train was cleared… and sent off… but then it broke down again – forcing passengers to wait in the summer heat while officials further tried to “determine the problem.”
After not being able to figure out why the train kept breaking down – the decision was made to evacuate the passengers – and that’s when things got even more insane. CNN reported:
Fellow passenger Kate Scott said temperatures in the tunnel were an issue.
“It was hot, there was no air con, they gave out water but we didn’t really know what was going on,” she said.
Sarah Fellows, 37, told PA that “the service tunnel was terrifying.”
“It was like a disaster movie. You were just walking into the abyss not knowing what was happening. We all had to stay under the sea in this big queue,” she said.
“There was a woman crying in the tunnel, another woman having a panic attack who was traveling alone,” added Fellows. “They were expecting really older people to walk for a mile down the middle of a tunnel under the sea.”
I can’t even imagine!
Besides the obvious fear of not knowing what was happening – being trapped underground in the heat and in the dark for hours sounds unbearable.
And I bet those who struggle with claustrophobia felt even more uneasy with being in an enclosed space and then being forced to walk through a dark tunnel – underground.
This particular train route is unique, as while it is 31.4 miles long – 23.5 miles of it runs undersea.
After the incident, the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle advised folks on Twitter to avoid the tunnel that night.
Thankfully, the next day the train was running smoothly and there were no further known incidents.
But passengers from that crazy day are still recalling their experience of what happened underground.
BBC reported:
“Another passenger, who did not want to be named, said: “Several people were freaking out about being down in the service tunnel, it’s a bit of a weird place… We were stuck down there for at least five hours.”
Mike Harrison, from Cranbrook in Kent, told BBC News it took about six hours to travel from Calais to Folkestone.
He said staff spent over an hour trying to find the fault on the train after it had broken down initially before they got it moving again only for it to “conk out” after five minutes.
Passengers had to walk 10 to 15 minutes to another train, he said.
“Things were getting a bit fractious, a bit stressed. A few people were having minor panic attacks,” he said.”
If you love the idea of traveling by train but are looking for a less frightening experience – consider taking a train tour of the United States – above ground!
(h/t Proud American Traveler)