PARIS, Oct 26: French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot raised the possibility on Friday of converting Alpine tunnels to one-way traffic to reduce the risk of deadly accidents such as the ones in Mont Blanc and St. Gotthard.
Noting the fact that the disaster in the St. Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland was caused by a collision between two trucks heading in opposite directions, the minister said one answer could be to make sure tunnels only contained one-way traffic.
The minister was speaking in the aftermath of the deadly inferno in the St. Gotthard tunnel in the Swiss Alps in which at least 11 people were killed.
Environment Minister Yves Cochet said on Friday that the re-opening of the Mont Blanc tunnel was inopportune as security standards were still lacking.
FIRE EXTINGUISHED: Firefighters resumed work to shore up the roof in the Gotthard Alpine road tunnel on Friday, after finally extinguishing the huge fire that broke out on Wednesday when two trucks collided head on.
At least 11 people were killed in the blaze and more than 100 are missing. The initial clearing operation is expected to pave the way for later work to recover any bodies still at the site, and to remove cars trapped in the tunnel.
The rescue workers are moving slowly down the tunnel and are now within 50 metres of the crash site. But the remaining stretch is still too dangerous to enter and workers may not be able to start searching for bodies until Monday, officials said.
One of the lorries has been turned into a wreck of twisted material and cars have been welded together into a lump of metal by the intense heat.
A stretch of the roof collapsed in the inferno and officials warned that the Alpine link could be cut for months, severing a major artery linking Italy to northern Europe.—AFP / dpa
PARIS, Oct 26: French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot raised the possibility on Friday of converting Alpine tunnels to one-way traffic to reduce the risk of deadly accidents such as the ones in Mont Blanc and St. Gotthard.
