Latest news with #ChristophePezron
Sky News
09-03-2025
- General
- Sky News
WWII bomb defused after forcing rail shutdown and Eurostar chaos in London and Paris
Eurostar services are expected to resume between London and Paris on Saturday after the discovery of an "excessively dangerous" unexploded Second World War bomb. The cross-Channel operator halted services on Friday morning, causing major disruption for thousands of passengers. All 32 trains scheduled to run between London and Paris were cancelled, with services suspended for the rest of the day. After moving the bomb into a hole, disposal experts managed to unscrew and then destroy its fuse, "like you see in the movies," said Christophe Pezron, who heads the Paris department responsible for bomb disposal. He said that the British-made bomb, weighing 453kg, could have caused major damage had it exploded after workers inadvertently dug it up near train tracks in northern Paris. Pictures from Paris's Gare du Nord showed large queues of stranded travellers, while a large crowd of people gathered outside the check-in area at London St Pancras. Eurostar has said it expects to run a normal service between Paris and London and Paris and Brussels on Saturday. The company said it will run two extra trains - one leaving London to Paris in the morning, the other from Paris to London in the afternoon. Meanwhile, local train services in Paris have resumed and a major highway has reopened following the completion of the disposal operation. The bomb was discovered two metres underground during construction work on a bridge in the Saint-Denis area of the city in the early hours of the morning. French transport minister Philippe Tabarot said "the whole northern part of our country was paralysed" in the ensuing disruption, with almost 500 trains cancelled and 600,000 people in Gare du Nord affected. Police in Paris described the bomb as "excessively dangerous" while Mr Pezron said: "It's the fourth one we've found in this area since 2019." The disruption spread to the French capital's road network as bomb disposal teams worked at the site. Police evacuated 200 people, including local schools, near a security perimeter set up around the bomb. Other residents in the area were asked to stay indoors. First and Second World War bombs are regularly discovered around France but very rarely in such a densely populated area. Official figures show that disposal teams have defused 700,000 air-dropped bombs and made safe nearly 50 million mines, shells and other explosive devices in France since the end of the Second World War. Eurostar said in a statement it "sincerely apologises for the disruption and understands the inconvenience this may cause". Earlier, France's national train operator SNCF said services were suspended at the request of the police and asked "travellers to postpone their trip". Trains to northern France were also brought to a halt from Gare du Nord, which is a major European transport hub and considered the world's busiest railway station outside of Japan. Fridays are the busiest day of the week for Eurostar, as many holidaymakers embark on international weekend breaks. Plans thrown into doubt Lee Bailey told Sky News he arrived at Gare du Nord to find hundreds of people waiting before being told of the unexploded bomb. "It's a new one for me," he said, adding the staff were "extremely professional" and that Eurostar had offered him free rebooking or a refund, and an apology, but no compensation. "I'd like to go to a Michelin (starred) restaurant in Paris on their dime, but that's not happening, apparently," he said. At St Pancras, Emma Roe, part of a group of eight friends, said they were looking up flights to go "maybe to Amsterdam from Luton, just somewhere else". Lauren Romeo-Smith, part of a group planning to travel for a weekend away to celebrate a birthday, said: "We're looking up flights, but our options are limited." Eurostar said affected passengers can exchange their tickets for free to travel at a different time or date in the same travel class. Trains between London and Brussels are unaffected.
Euronews
08-03-2025
- General
- Euronews
France begins withdrawal process from Senegal by handing over two military bases
Hours of travel delays and chaos ensues after an unexploded WWII bomb was discovered in France's busiest train station in the capital, Paris. ADVERTISEMENT The disposal of what Parisian police called an 'excessively dangerous' unexploded World War II bomb, caused hours of transportation chaos on Friday on rail and road networks in the French capital. The disruptions affected both domestic and international trains, with Eurostar high-speed services operating out of Paris' busy Gare du Nord station to Brussels and London being suspended. The bomb was dug up overnight, workers labouring on a bridge replacement project spotted the rust-eaten, dirt-covered bomb just before dawn. It was found by an earth-moving machine, which dug it out from a depth of about two metres, between train tracks to the north of Gare du Nord. FILE - The Gare du Nord train station is pictured on Jan. 11, 2023 in Paris Michel Euler/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved. French national railway operator – SNCF – notified emergency police units of their discovery, and reported the suspicious object as a potential bomb. Upon closer examination, authorities did confirm that it was in fact a WWII era bomb. 'They just discovered a bomb, an object that seemed a bit strange to them on their site,' said Christophe Pezron, who heads the Paris Police Laboratory – including bomb disposal services. 'A team was sent out immediately, and we identified it as a 500-kilogram English bomb, an extremely dangerous object.' This photo provided by the Paris Police Prefecture shows a huge unexploded World War II-era bomb that caused transportation chaos in Paris, March 7, 2025 Prefecture de Police/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved. Authorities say the bomb could have caused major damage had it exploded after workers inadvertently dug it up. They also noted that the task was delicate and required serious expertise to handle with care and urgency. 'It's always risky. It's always dangerous to handle something that fell 4-thousand meters from a plane, that contains almost 300 kilos of explosives, and that didn't work,' added Pezron. 'We don't know why it didn't work. So, yes, it's dangerous, but it's really the de-miners' expertise that makes it possible to tackle and handle these objects.' Travelers wait as Eurostar trains to London and all trains heading to northern France have been brought to a halt following the discovery of an unexploded bomb Christophe Ena/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved. The bomb was dug up near train tracks north of Paris, forcing a shutdown of the rail network serving Gare du Nord. A portion of the A1 highway – a major road artery into northern Paris – was also closed while police disposal officers worked for approximately 12 hours. 'We're delighted and relieved that all this has come to an end,' Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot was able to finally declare Friday afternoon — 12 hours after the bomb-disposal police were first called — as roads reopened and rail services were progressively being restored. 'All of the northern part of our country was paralysed,' noted Tabarot. This photo provided by the Paris Police Prefecture shows police disposal officers near a huge unexploded World War II-era bomb that caused transportation chaos in Paris Prefecture de Police/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved. Some 500 trains were cancelled in the process, impacting around 600,000 travellers in Gare du Nord alone. Trains carrying passengers from the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium were also suspended, impacting even more travellers. 'I've had a long day because I got up before 6 o'clock this morning and got the train from Penzance (Cornwall) to Paddington (London) to catch the Eurostar,' said Tony, a traveller from the UK. 'A lot of the systems that Eurostar are using have crashed. So these are, they did send an email saying the train, you know, about the WWII bomb, and they cancelled the trains. But the link, you couldn't get through to it because it had all crashed, so really I'm just sitting here (thinking) what to do really.' ADVERTISEMENT 'We had to get off in Brussels and so now we are in line trying to figure out how to get to Paris, we're not sure how we are doing it yet, but we would like to get there today, if possible,' said Gabrielle Cotton, an American tourist, traveling from Amsterdam. A view of a departures board at St Pancras International station in London, Friday March 7, 2025 James Manning/AP Passengers queue and wait near departures for Eurostar services at St Pancras International station in London, Friday March 7, 2025 Frank Augstein/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved France is no stranger to unexploded WWI and WWII bombs. Authorities regularly locate and destroy them – but, they're usually not found in busy and urban areas. Police say the bomb identified was a 500kg English bomb from WWII, the largest calibre bomb the Allies used from their arsenal which was consisted of 125, 250 and 500 kg bomb. The bomb located near the Parisian train station is capable of causing extensive damage. Experts say a single bomb has a damage radius exceeding 1,000 metres. Authorities are thankful the lengthy defusal operation was successful and a major tragedy was avoided. ADVERTISEMENT France's Interior Ministry says that 700,000 air-dropped bombs and nearly 50 million mines, shells and other explosive devices were defused by disposal teams since the end of the Second World War. It is not clear how many WWI and WWII bombs are still left.
Euronews
08-03-2025
- General
- Euronews
Hours of travel delays end as authorities defuse unexploded WWII bomb near Paris' Gare du Nord
Hours of travel delays and chaos ensues after an unexploded WWII bomb was discovered in France's busiest train and railway station in the capital, Paris. ADVERTISEMENT The disposal of what Parisian police called an 'excessively dangerous' unexploded World War II bomb, caused hours of transportation chaos on Friday on rail and road networks in the French capital. The disruptions affected both domestic and international trains, with Eurostar high-speed services operating out of Paris' busy Gare du Nord station to Brussels and London being suspended. The bomb was dug up overnight, workers labouring on a bridge replacement project spotted the rust-eaten, dirt-covered bomb just before dawn. It was found by an earth-moving machine, which dug it out from a depth of about two metres, between train tracks to the north of Gare du Nord. FILE - The Gare du Nord train station is pictured on Jan. 11, 2023 in Paris Michel Euler/Copyright 2023 The AP. All rights reserved. French national railway operator – SNCF – notified emergency police units of their discovery, and reported the suspicious object as a potential bomb. Upon closer examination, authorities did confirm that it was in fact a WWII era bomb. 'They just discovered a bomb, an object that seemed a bit strange to them on their site,' said Christophe Pezron, who heads the Paris Police Laboratory – including bomb disposal services. 'A team was sent out immediately, and we identified it as a 500-kilogram English bomb, an extremely dangerous object.' This photo provided by the Paris Police Prefecture shows a huge unexploded World War II-era bomb that caused transportation chaos in Paris, March 7, 2025 Prefecture de Police/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved. Authorities say the bomb could have caused major damage had it exploded after workers inadvertently dug it up. They also noted that the task was delicate and required serious expertise to handle with care and urgency. 'It's always risky. It's always dangerous to handle something that fell 4-thousand meters from a plane, that contains almost 300 kilos of explosives, and that didn't work,' added Pezron. 'We don't know why it didn't work. So, yes, it's dangerous, but it's really the de-miners' expertise that makes it possible to tackle and handle these objects.' The police operation that the bomb safe before it was taken away triggered major disruption for hundreds of thousands of travellers and motorists. Travelers wait as Eurostar trains to London and all trains heading to northern France have been brought to a halt following the discovery of an unexploded bomb Christophe Ena/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved. The bomb was dug up near train tracks north of Paris, forcing a shutdown of the rail network serving Gare du Nord. A portion of the A1 highway – a major road artery into northern Paris – was also closed while police disposal officers worked for approximately 12 hours. 'We're delighted and relieved that all this has come to an end,' Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot was able to finally declare Friday afternoon — 12 hours after the bomb-disposal police were first called — as roads reopened and rail services were progressively being restored. 'All of the northern part of our country was paralysed,' noted Tabarot. This photo provided by the Paris Police Prefecture shows police disposal officers near a huge unexploded World War II-era bomb that caused transportation chaos in Paris Prefecture de Police/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved. Some 500 trains were cancelled in the process, impacting around 600,000 travellers in Gare du Nord alone. Trains carrying passengers from the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium were also suspended, impacting even more travellers. 'I've had a long day because I got up before 6 o'clock this morning and got the train from Penzance (Cornwall) to Paddington (London) to catch the Eurostar,' said Tony, a traveller from the UK. ADVERTISEMENT 'A lot of the systems that Eurostar are using have crashed. So these are, they did send an email saying the train, you know, about the WWII bomb, and they cancelled the trains. But the link, you couldn't get through to it because it had all crashed, so really I'm just sitting here (thinking) what to do really.' 'We had to get off in Brussels and so now we are in line trying to figure out how to get to Paris, we're not sure how we are doing it yet, but we would like to get there today, if possible,' said Gabrielle Cotton, an American tourist, traveling from Amsterdam. A view of a departures board at St Pancras International station in London, Friday March 7, 2025 James Manning/AP Passengers queue and wait near departures for Eurostar services at St Pancras International station in London, Friday March 7, 2025 Frank Augstein/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved France is no stranger to unexploded WWI and WWII bombs. Authorities regularly locate and destroy them – but, they're usually not found in busy and urban areas. Police say the bomb identified was a 500kg English bomb from WWII, the largest calibre bomb the Allies used from their arsenal which was consisted of 125, 250 and 500 kg bomb. ADVERTISEMENT The bomb located near the Parisian train station is capable of causing extensive damage. Experts say a single bomb has a damage radius exceeding 1,000 metres. Authorities are thankful the lengthy defusal operation was successful and a major tragedy was avoided. France's Interior Ministry says that 700,000 air-dropped bombs and nearly 50 million mines, shells and other explosive devices were defused by disposal teams since the end of the Second World War. It is not clear how many WWI and WWII bombs are still left.
