English Channel Tunnel Fire

COQUELLES, France (AP) — Above ground, the fire would have been minor. Breaking out deep below the English Channel, it has stranded thousands of travelers, imperiled millions of dollars in trade and starkly demonstrated the importance — and fragility — of Britain's only land link to Europe. The Channel Tunnel remained closed Friday after a fire that started on a truck being carried on a train to France. Firefighters battled through the night trying to quell a blaze that caused temperatures to soar above 1,800 degrees in the tube 130 feet beneath the sea bed. Hundreds of trucks loaded with everything from fruit to furniture sat along a stretch of highway that has become a virtual parking lot on the English side of the tunnel. At London's St. Pancras station, passengers expecting to be whisked to Paris in a little over two hours were being told no trains would run until Saturday at the earliest. Almost 30,000 people had been due to take Eurostar trains between London, Paris and Brussels on Friday.