Eurotunnel awarded £202m by insurers after fire

Four safe fire extinguishing areas have been installed in the tunnel

Eurotunnel has been awarded a final total of £202m (253m euros) by insurers after a fire in the Channel Tunnel.

A statement from Groupe Eurotunnel said the money covered operating losses, repairs to the tunnel and damage to rolling stock in the 2008 blaze.

The fire, which broke out on a freight train on 11 September, injured 14 people and closed the tunnel between the UK and France for almost two days.

The tunnel fully reopened five months later.

More than £15.9m (20m euros) had been invested in four safe fire extinguishing areas since the fire, the statement issued on Monday said.

The aim of the safe zones was to control a fire and facilitate fire brigade intervention, it added.

The fire protection system uses sprinklers to deliver a water mist which starves fires of oxygen and prevents them from spreading.

Groupe Eurotunnel operates the Channel Tunnel between Kent and France.