Failed Eurostar train abandoned

The train had to be towed out of the tunnel

More than 200 Eurostar travellers have been forced to abandon their train after it broke down 15 miles inside the Channel Tunnel.

Crews on board managed to restart the high-speed train several times after repeated breakdowns, but eventually gave up.

The Brussels-bound express had travelled about half way through the tunnel when it broke down at about 1550 BST on Wednesday.

The 210 passengers were moved into the service tunnel where they waited for a replacement train to pick them up and continue their journey.

Passengers on the failed train suffered delays of five hours, and the blocked line delayed other services for about two hours, forcing the cancellation of two trains.

Lesley Retallack, spokesperson for Eurostar, said a full investigation would be carried out into the incident.

She said: "It got to the situation of how to get the passengers moving and it was decided to move them to the service tunnel and transfer them to another train."

The abandoned train was later pulled out of the tunnel by another locomotive.