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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Josh Salisbury

Bus catches fire at Charles De Gaulle airport as thousands visit for Paris Olympics

A thick plume of smoke has been spotted at Paris’s Charles De Gaulle airport as thousands visit France for the Olympics.

Pictures of the black pillar of smoke were seen rising from near terminal 2F at the major airport amid reports of a bus fire.

The blaze appeared to be in the airport, which is one of Europe's busiest.

The fire engulfed a bus on nearby Rue de New York, according to local reports. Flight services at the terminal were thought to be unaffected.

France’s BFMTV reported firefighters intervened with two hoses and managed to bring the fire under control around 4pm local time.

A spokesperson told one concerned passenger on social media: “A bus caught fire in the public area of the airport. The fire fighters intervened and the fire is now fully extinguished.

“The passengers have been taken to safety and there are no injuries.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have descended upon the French capital to watch the games.

In June, firefighters were called to the airport after a Tug master caught fire while towing a Boeing 777.

Nobody was injured in that incident.

Last week, in a separate incident, an arson attack hit the nation’s high-speed rail network.

Fires were started at key points just hours before the Olympic opening ceremony, bringing trains to a halt and leading to the cancellation of services taking tens of thousands of spectators to the capital.

Transport minister Patrice Vergriete said the “co-ordinated malicious acts” had targeted the TGV network, which spans the country.

It meant some Eurostar services between London and Paris were cancelled and others delayed as trains were switched to conventional tracks rather than the 186mph high-speed network.

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