Fire rages on in alpine tunnel

Extreme heat defeated efforts by firefighters today to tackle a blaze in the world’s second-longest road tunnel which killed up to 20 people.

The fire, which broke out yesterday in the Gotthard Tunnel after two lorries crashed head-on, closed one of the most important routes through the Alps indefinitely.

A police spokesman said firefighters had made three attempts overnight to put out the fire, but they were driven back by the heat. Special equipment was being used to lower the temperatures of around 1,000 degrees Celsius to enable them to get closer to the blaze.

The traffic chaos worsened today when the main alternative route the San Bernardino pass - was shut following an accident between a truck and a bus.

The accident raised renewed question marks about the safety of Europe’s Alpine road tunnels. In March 1999, a fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy killed 39 people.

Two months later, 12 people died in the Tauern Tunnel near Salzburg, Austria, after a truck ploughed into the back of a car, setting off a chain of explosions.

Authorities said late Wednesday that 10 people were known to have died in the fire.

But they feared the toll could double once they reached vehicles trapped by the collapse of the roof in a 100-yard stretch of the tunnel, which links Switzerland with northern Italy.

Toxic fumes caused by burning tyres loaded on one of the trucks killed some people in their cars and others as they tried to flee to nearby emergency shelters, authorities said. One of the truck drivers was among the victims.

The other escaped unharmed.

Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger said the Gotthard tunnel’s safety features including an emergency foot tunnel with its own lighting, air supply and exits running alongside the road tunnel prevented the death toll rising even further.

Many people caught by the crash managed to escape via the foot tunnel.

A number of drivers were also able to turn their cars round and leave the single-bore, two-lane tunnel, police said. Even some truckers were able to back out.

Rescue workers were deployed within a minute of the crash as dense smoke billowed out of the 10.6-mile tunnel, officials said.

There was no indication of when the Gotthard would be reopened. The tunnel is a vital transit route for trucks passing between northern and southern Europe.

More than 1.2 million trucks and millions more holidaymakers passed through the crowded tunnel last year.

Thanks to unusually mild weather, many vehicles are still able to cross the Gotthard Pass above the tunnel, but that route will close in the coming weeks because of snow.

The Gotthard, which opened in 1980, was the longest road tunnel in the world until Norway opened its 15.2-mile Laerdal Tunnel last year.

Traffic through the Gotthard has increased since the Mont Blanc tragedy. Repair work on the Mont Blanc Tunnel began last year, and it could be reopened later this year.

Today’s closure of the San Bernardino route was a double blow for truckers as it is the only alternative to the Gotthard for heavy traffic.