19 workers suffer carbon monoxide poisoning in Channel tunnel

An employee works in the rail tunnel under the Channel linking Britain and France in Coquelles, northern France. (File photo)

Lille:  Nineteen workers suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while working overnight in the Channel tunnel, with one of them seriously affected, French officials said on Sunday.

Sixty people, including workers from a company commissioned by Eurotunnel and Eurotunnel employees, were in the process of changing rails on the line between the towns of Calais in France and Folkestone in Britain when a welder took ill overnight Saturday, said officials from France's Pas-de-Calais department.

"Carbon monoxide poisoning was diagnosed," an official said, adding the worker, who was "quite seriously affected", was taken to a hospital in Calais then Lille in northern France.

Eighteen other workers were also taken ill and sent to hospitals in Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Dunkerque, "the time needed to remove the carbon monoxide from their system", an official said, adding their condition was not a cause for concern.

The 41 other workers were able to return home.

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the incident.