Power cut leaves hundreds stranded in sweltering Paris Metro trains
Hundreds of commuters and tourists in Paris were left stuck in sweltering Metro trains in tunnels for up to two hours on Tuesday night before being evacuated.
Hundreds of commuters and holidaymakers were evacuated from one of Paris' busiest metro lines on Tuesday evening after a power failure halted the driverless trains.
The failure happened at around 20:10 (1810 GMT) between two stations on Line 1 in the French capital's upmarket Marais district, a spokesman for the operator RATP said.
Traffic didn't fully resume until 23:30.
Passengers needed to be evacuated from at least eight trains, with many walking to the nearest station in the dark along the tracks. Reports say passengers in the first of the blocked trains forced the doors open themselves and walked along the tracks to the nearest station.
Et les agents #RATP nous engueulent??#metro #ligne1 pic.twitter.com/PVJwniwlii
— Assma Maad (@Assma_MD) July 31, 2018
The fire service said five people were treated for heat exhaustion after being stuck underground as France is experiencing a weeks-long heatwave.
Passengers took to Twitter to tell of their chaotic ordeal and to call on Paris transport operator RATP to help. But passengers complained they were left in the dark and had to fend for themselves in sweltering temperatures.
"Parents, with their children in tears forced to leave the Metro along the tracks without any help from RATP. It lasted over one hour and a half and no exaggeration it was 60C in the tunnel," said one passenger.
There were reports of a pregnant woman fainting and video images shown a mother and her one-month old baby being evacuated. Other video images showed passengers drenched in sweat.
Des enfants, en pleurs, que les parents sont obligés d’évacuer par les voies, sans aucune aide des agents de la RATP @Ligne1_RATP 1h30 que ça dure et il fait, sans mentir, 60 degrés dans la rame et le tunnel. pic.twitter.com/HT0hn1lxA6
— AnonymousAG © (@AnonymousAG) July 31, 2018
The Metro and police do need to get their act together. We were close to the station and a quick evacuation should have been easy. We received no help. Most importantly a prompt communication would have helped to ease the anxiety. Lesson to learn.
— eduardo (@ebellosalas) July 31, 2018
Paris: Chaos dans le métro après une panne géante sur la ligne 1 https://t.co/XgKplS8aEd pic.twitter.com/X5VsXxbxR0
— 20 Minutes (@20Minutes) August 1, 2018
#RATP #Ligne1 Attention aux rats pic.twitter.com/lc1JoAyxg4
— Nico Pollux (@nicopollux) July 31, 2018
#ligne1 pic.twitter.com/vOb8qCYnKL
— Spart Colacion (@Spartcolacion) July 31, 2018
The incident on Line 1 -- which serves some of Paris' most popular landmarks including the Louvre, the Tuileries garden and the Champs-Elysees --
comes after tens of thousands of people were stranded at a train station in the capital following an electrical fire over the weekend.
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Hundreds of commuters and holidaymakers were evacuated from one of Paris' busiest metro lines on Tuesday evening after a power failure halted the driverless trains.
The failure happened at around 20:10 (1810 GMT) between two stations on Line 1 in the French capital's upmarket Marais district, a spokesman for the operator RATP said.
Traffic didn't fully resume until 23:30.
Passengers needed to be evacuated from at least eight trains, with many walking to the nearest station in the dark along the tracks. Reports say passengers in the first of the blocked trains forced the doors open themselves and walked along the tracks to the nearest station.
Et les agents #RATP nous engueulent??#metro #ligne1 pic.twitter.com/PVJwniwlii
— Assma Maad (@Assma_MD) July 31, 2018
The fire service said five people were treated for heat exhaustion after being stuck underground as France is experiencing a weeks-long heatwave.
Passengers took to Twitter to tell of their chaotic ordeal and to call on Paris transport operator RATP to help. But passengers complained they were left in the dark and had to fend for themselves in sweltering temperatures.
"Parents, with their children in tears forced to leave the Metro along the tracks without any help from RATP. It lasted over one hour and a half and no exaggeration it was 60C in the tunnel," said one passenger.
There were reports of a pregnant woman fainting and video images shown a mother and her one-month old baby being evacuated. Other video images showed passengers drenched in sweat.
Des enfants, en pleurs, que les parents sont obligés d’évacuer par les voies, sans aucune aide des agents de la RATP @Ligne1_RATP 1h30 que ça dure et il fait, sans mentir, 60 degrés dans la rame et le tunnel. pic.twitter.com/HT0hn1lxA6
— AnonymousAG © (@AnonymousAG) July 31, 2018
The Metro and police do need to get their act together. We were close to the station and a quick evacuation should have been easy. We received no help. Most importantly a prompt communication would have helped to ease the anxiety. Lesson to learn.
— eduardo (@ebellosalas) July 31, 2018
Paris: Chaos dans le métro après une panne géante sur la ligne 1 https://t.co/XgKplS8aEd pic.twitter.com/X5VsXxbxR0
— 20 Minutes (@20Minutes) August 1, 2018
#RATP #Ligne1 Attention aux rats pic.twitter.com/lc1JoAyxg4
— Nico Pollux (@nicopollux) July 31, 2018
#ligne1 pic.twitter.com/vOb8qCYnKL
— Spart Colacion (@Spartcolacion) July 31, 2018
The incident on Line 1 -- which serves some of Paris' most popular landmarks including the Louvre, the Tuileries garden and the Champs-Elysees --
comes after tens of thousands of people were stranded at a train station in the capital following an electrical fire over the weekend.
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