Rescuers who had to battle temperatures of 600 centigrade (1100 fahrenheit) when a truck caught fire in the Frejus tunnel between France and Italy confirmed today that two people died in the blaze.
Firefighters took seven hours to put out the fire, which began when the engine of a truck carrying tyres burst into flames in the 13 km (8 mile) tunnel on Saturday evening, forcing the indefinite closure of a major route under the Alps.
The victims, both men, were from Slovakia and Slovenia, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. "We can confirm that the death toll has stopped at two victims, because we have finished checking all the niches and curves of the tunnel," a senior police official on the Italian side of the tunnel, told Reuters by telephone.
He said the tunnel would be closed indefinitely while engineers assessed the damage. A witness at the scene overnight saw thick black smoke pouring from the Italian entrance.
Searing heat and smoke prevented rescuers from reaching the site of the fire until 5am, and rescue workers said they were concerned part of the roof or walls could collapse.
The Frejus tunnel connects Lyon and Turin, and runs close to the site of the 2006 Winter Olympics in the Italian Alps. Some 2 million vehicles use the route each year. Six years ago 39 people were killed in a raging fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Frejus.
Italian police said the Frejus fire was not on the same scale as the Mont Blanc tunnel disaster. Four firms and a dozen individuals, including the Belgian driver of a truck which caught fire, are standing trial in France charged with involuntary manslaughter over the Mont Blanc deaths.