Stella Alpina Attendees : Frejus Tunnel CLOSED

[JohnnyBoxer]

Just read a report that there was a big fire yesterday in the Frejus Tunnel.

2 Dead and 17 Seriously injured.

The Tunnel is now closed indefinitely and is in danger of collapse.

So - as Bardonecchia (Stella base) is at the Italian end of the Tunnel ...........you'll have to take another route

2 Options

Col du Mont Cenis (looks favourite and we'll be doing it, as it's on the Col D'Iseran/Val D'Isere side anyway)

OR

Col Du Galibier and up to Briancon

 

[Invicta Moto]

TWO DEAD IN ALPINE BLAZE

Firefighters in France have brought under control a violent tunnel fire in which two people died.

The blaze started in a lorry carrying tyres through the tunnel which links France with Italy.


Several other vehicles were caught in the flames and there are fears that more bodies could be found.

Firefighters took about six hours to bring it under control as flames of up to 600C (1,100F) kept them at bay.

The eight-mile Frejus tunnel has been closed indefinitely and engineers are worried some sections could collapse.

One victim was 23-year-old Slovene, Doliban Vukanovic, who is believed to have been driving one of the lorries.

The second was fellow driver Pavol Blanarovik, 24.

The blaze occurred despite safety measures put in place since a huge inferno erupted in the Mont Blanc tunnel in 1999.

After a lorry caught fire, 39 people died in temperatures that reached 1,000C (1,832F).

The Frejus tunnel was completed in 1870 but has come under increasing strain in handling the growing amount of trans-Alpine traffic.

French and Italian transport ministers met in April to discuss plans to build a second tunnel alongside the first, with a smaller gallery between the two to allow for evacuation in case of fire.

 

[MasterDabber]

Worrying stuff

I saw a bad lorry fire last week on the Brenner Pass motorway heading down towards Bolzano... The motorway was blocked for some time. Lots of small tunnels on that route... but fortunately it wasn't in one of them..
makes you think.

 

[sparkplug]

Just read a report that there was a big fire yesterday in the Frejus Tunnel.

2 Dead and 17 Seriously injured.

The Tunnel is now closed indefinitely and is in danger of collapse.

So - as Bardonecchia (Stella base) is at the Italian end of the Tunnel ...........you'll have to take another route

2 Options

Col du Mont Cenis (looks favourite and we'll be doing it, as it's on the Col D'Iseran/Val D'Isere side anyway)

OR

Col Du Galibier and up to Briancon

Having done both many times I suggest Mont Cenis from a scenic point of view although Galibier isn't exactly ugly..