Coquelles, France—A passenger transport minibus carrying commercial freight drivers slammed directly into a Le Shuttle train along the terminal loading ramp late last night, injuring 19 people and triggering an immediate regional emergency response.
The collision occurred at approximately 9:00 p.m. inside the heavily secured Eurotunnel perimeter as truck drivers were being shuttled across the concrete apron to board the cross-Channel rail service.
Emergency responder vehicles, including heavy rescue units and medical transport helicopters, flooded the staging area within minutes to extract trapped passengers from the crushed vehicle frame.
Two victims, including the minibus driver, sustained severe trauma and were airlifted directly to the regional trauma center in Lille, while seventeen others were dispersed to surrounding hospitals across Pas-de-Calais.
Fifty-five firefighters and specialized emergency medical technicians spent over two hours stabilizing casualties on the illuminated loading platform amid ongoing shuttle service halts.
"The impact was severe enough to crush the forward chassis of the transport bus against the steel flank of the train carriage," stated an emergency coordinator on scene under condition of anonymity.
Terminal operators halted localized vehicle boarding operations across the affected platform section, though main cross-border rail traffic through the primary tunnel tube maintained restricted throughput.
Border police units immediately cordoned off the concrete ramp, seizing operational logs and video surveillance footage from terminal monitoring gantries to reconstruct the vehicle’s approach trajectory.
Transport safety inspectors are now examining mechanical braking systems on the shuttle bus alongside tarmac surface conditions to determine why the vehicle failed to stop short of the active rail line.
The site remains under active police securement as technical investigators measure skid trajectories and interview terminal staff ahead of a preliminary safety findings report.
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