2024-07-27 05:53:28
[PARiS 2024] 3 places on the West-North-East route… 1 place is unscheduled
Cancellations and delays… 800,000 passengers affected
Tracing the Backs of the Buddha’s “Organized Sabotage”
Airport Line ‘Bomb Alert’… Evacuation Crisis Occurs
On the 26th (local time), the day of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, a fire, presumed to be arson, broke out on three high-speed rail lines connecting the French capital Paris and the north, west, and east. The French government is investigating the perpetrators, condemning it as an “organized act of sabotage.” In addition, a bomb warning was issued at an airport in southeastern France on the same day, causing people to evacuate.
Despite heightened security ahead of the opening ceremony, concerns are growing that “terrorist attacks targeting the Olympics” could occur as incidents that simultaneously destroyed public infrastructure and potentially caused casualties occurred in multiple regions.
According to the French daily Le Monde, the French national railway company SNCF announced on the same day that “from the night of the 25th to the early morning of the 26th, a large-scale suspected arson attack paralyzed the long-distance railway network, causing delays or cancellations in train operations.” SNCF said that “‘malicious acts’ occurred on the western, northern, and eastern high-speed lines, while on the southeastern line, such acts were attempted.”
This caused disruption to the normal operation of domestic French railways as well as international train lines such as Eurostar to the UK. SNCF said, “We recommend that travelers postpone their trips and do not go to train stations.” Jean-Pierre Parandoux, CEO of SNCF, said, “About 800,000 passengers were affected,” and “The fire broke out in a strategic location (where it could have affected operations),” suggesting that it may have been a planned crime.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal immediately activated the crisis response headquarters, saying, “This act of destruction has the clear purpose of shutting down the high-speed rail network.” The Paris prosecutor’s office also announced that it was “conducting an investigation under the ‘national jurisdiction to combat organized crime’.”
Meanwhile, at around 11 a.m. that day, a bomb alert was issued at EuroAirport on the Swiss-German border in southeastern France, forcing everyone in the terminal to evacuate, AFP reported. The airport was immediately closed and flights were temporarily suspended, but later resumed.
There is speculation that the fear of terrorism, which was feared to occur during the Paris Olympics and Paralympics (26th to 8th September), will increase even more. Some are pointing out that the concentration of security in Paris, where the Olympics are being held, has led to relatively lax security in other regions. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told AFP, “I have full confidence in the French authorities (regarding Olympic security).”
Paris = Correspondent Jo Eun-ah [email protected]
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2024-07-27 05:53:28