In the 32 years since the Channel Tunnel opened, nothing quite like it had happened on its loading platforms. On Thursday evening a minibus ferrying lorry drivers at the French terminal in Coquelles, near Calais, ploughed into the side of a LeShuttle train that was about to leave.
The alarm was raised at 7.27 pm. Nineteen people were hurt, including the driver of the minibus, who works for Eurotunnel. A helicopter carried him and one passenger, the two most serious cases, to Lille’s main teaching hospital. The others had mostly light injuries and were spread across hospitals in Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer and several nearby towns. Officials stressed that no one’s life was in danger. The injured are all men, of several nationalities, and their consulates have been informed.
Calais sub-prefect Agathe Cury said that two trains were standing on either side of the platform, one being loaded and the other pulling out, and that for reasons still unknown the vehicle veered from its lane and hit the moving one. The minibus stayed upright, which probably prevented worse.
The rescue effort was large: about 55 firefighters, 25 emergency medics, 20 police officers and roughly 100 Eurotunnel staff, plus a psychological support unit. Passenger shuttles were halted for around an hour and a half, while Eurostar trains and freight services ran normally throughout.
Getlink, the company behind Eurotunnel, said on Friday that the driver was experienced and had been with the firm for several years. It has started its own internal inquiry, and prosecutors in Boulogne-sur-Mer have opened a criminal investigation into unintentional injury. Some 3.4 million cars, coaches and lorries crossed under the sea through it in 2025.
