Brussels tunnel safety in question

2 February 2005

BRUSSELS – The safety of Brussels’ network of road tunnels has been brought into question.

The air conditioning system has been criticised as inadequately equipped to expel poisonous fumes and there is no signal mechanism to prevent access to the tunnels in the event of a disaster, the Belgian media reported on Wednesday.

There is also a lack of any system to detect fumes, according to the Brussels fire brigade.

The Brussels Minister for Public Works, Pascal Smet, has pledged to draw up
a security plan.

The safety fears have been expressed just two days after the opening of a trial to establish the responsibility for a 1999 fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel under the Alps, which killed 39 people.

Subject: Belgian News