PARIS — Chalk this up to plain ol’ stupidity. A passenger who packed a replica World War II bomb in his luggage caused major delays on Eurostar trains in Paris on Monday. Passengers were held up at Gare du Nord station for hours after an evacuation was enforced.
A Eurostar spokesperson said the delays were due to “some memorabilia which had been brought back from the war sites in Northern France,” reports Mashable. Despite several signs at check-in stations that clearly indicate this is not allowed, the passenger in question failed to declare the ‘fake bomb’ to customs and was later discovered during the regular check-in procedure.
Even more surprising is the fact that this is a regular occurrence; since 2011, there have been seven incidences of passengers trying to board Eurostar trains with wartime relics, reports The Evening Standard.
Passenger with fake bombshell sparked a security scare at Paris Gare du Nord, delaying our journey on the @Eurostar pic.twitter.com/ATjFqkqp9b
— Justin Lee (@justinlee76) May 30, 2016
Not the most streamlined Monday night Eurostar departure ever! #garedunord #eurostar #delayed #suspiciouspackage pic.twitter.com/8oyWx8B4mX
— David MacLean (@barefoot_dave81) May 30, 2016
Update – Passengers on the cancelled 9061 & 9063 last night can rebook their journey here > https://t.co/dGXDm17fIn
— Eurostar (@Eurostar) May 31, 2016
To complicate matters even further, maintenance work at the station resulted in the cancellation of two trains at the end of the day, causing many passengers to be stranded in Paris overnight. Plus, an impending strike by French labour unions are expected to affect almost all modes of transit, from planes to trains to ports.
