A panicked mother is desperate to be reunited with her 12-year-old daughter who is stranded in Paris café by the train cancellations.
Eurostar passengers faced continued disruption today after arson attacks on the French rail network ahead of the start of the Olympic Games in Paris.
The disruption came just as the Games got underway and as millions were expected to embark on summer getaways.
As well as fingers being pointed at far-left groups, experts have suggested a correlation between acts of sabotage and Russian fury over their national team being excluded from the games.
Tearful Olympics fans revealed they will now miss the Games due to the travel chaos – with one worried Parisian mother saying Friday’s cancelled 4.31pm train has meant her 12-year-old daughter is waiting alone in a café in Paris.
Eurostar passenger Zissia Patel, 46, at St Pancras station in London, whose 12-year-old daughter is waiting alone in a cafe in Paris
Passengers at the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras station in central London
Eurostar passengers faced continued disruption today after arson attacks on the French rail network ahead of the start of the Olympic Games in Paris. Pictured is St Pancras station
French policemen patrol amid preparations for the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris, France, July 24, 2024
The plan to pick her up on Saturday morning fell through because of the disruption.
Zissia Patel, 46, said: ‘My daughter is alone in a café in Paris so I want to be with her. She’s only 12.’
The university administrator, who was visiting family in London, said she was told she could not rebook to a different train online and had to come into St Pancras instead.
Ms Patel said: ‘I’m just trying to keep my calm. My child is alone in a café.’
Olivia Atwell was in tears as she waited behind Ms Patel in the slow-moving Eurostar queue.
The 26-year-old Australian said she had not slept since getting on a 5.40am flight from Sydney to London on Friday to watch her cousin, Amy, compete in the women’s basketball at the Olympics.
Ms Atwell, an accountant from Sydney, said: ‘I’ve not slept. If I don’t get a train I’ll get a flight to Paris.’
Nick Ormerod, 41, from Cambridge, was due to take his two daughters, Beatrice, eight, and Harriet, five, to see the gymnastics at the Olympics on Saturday, but their 7.30am Eurostar service was cancelled.
The disruption came just as the Games got under way and as millions were expected to embark on summer getaways. (Travellers queue up at Eurostar rail terminal at St. Pancras)
Eurostar delays at Gare du Nord, Paris The Eurostar is advising passengers not to travel today
Mr Ormerod, who works in customer services, told PA: ‘We’ve had a bit of a nightmare, my two girls are budding gymnasts and they do county-level gymnastics.
‘They’re obviously very disappointed, they were really looking forward to going to Paris for the first time, to go to the Olympics and see the gymnastics.’
He said his family are now having to spend the weekend in London after they were offered a different Eurostar service which would arrive in the French capital at about 11pm on Saturday, meaning they would miss their event at the games.
Among those affected on Friday was Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was to travel on the Eurostar for the Games’ opening ceremony but flew to Paris instead.
French rail company SNCF said a series of incidents overnight into Friday had affected travel to and from London, to Belgium and across the west, north and east of France.
The rail operator, which runs international services from London St Pancras, said one in four of its trains would not run over the weekend.
Four trains from London to Paris were cancelled on Saturday, affecting thousands of passengers, with disruption expected to last until Monday.
Travellers were advised to postpone their journeys where possible.
Only a handful of seats were available to book on the remaining London to Paris Eurostar services on Saturday, while tickets for overnight coaches arriving in the French capital on Sunday morning were selling for as much as £197 through Flixbus.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the vandals strategically targeted the main routes towards Paris, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Eurostar has cancelled some trains from London to Paris due to arson attacks
Railway employees and French gendarmes inspect the scene of a suspected attack on the high speed railway network at Croiselles in northern France on Friday
French President Emmanuel Macron is pictured this morning at the Elysee palace in Paris
French military personnel patrol outside Gare du Nord station in Paris after a ‘coordinated’ attack on rail infrastructure
French detectives are continuing to investigate the culprits of a ‘massive arson attack’ on the country’s railway network ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony. Pictured: French gendarmes stand in position nearby the River Seine
Speaking to reporters, Mr Attal said there would be ‘massive consequences’, with ‘hundreds of thousands’ of people stuck while trying to visit Paris for the Games or holidays.
The majority of Team GB athletes were arriving at the Games via Eurostar.
The British Olympic Association said only two athletes were scheduled to arrive on Friday and had been subject to only minor delays.
The company said customers were being informed via email, text and on the Eurostar website.
It comes as French detectives are continuing to investigate the culprits of a ‘massive arson attack’ on the country’s railway network ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the ‘coordinated arson attack’ which damaged infrastructure along key lines connecting to Paris where the opening ceremony was staged on Friday night.
The methods used by the arsonists, who set multiple fires at cabling boxes close to junctions on the North, Brittany and South-West lines, resemble those used by far-left or environmentalist protesters in the past, a security source claimed.
Although analysts also fear Moscow may be responsible with some suggesting a correlation between acts of sabotage and Russian fury over their national team being excluded from the games.
France’s transport minister Patrice Vergriete said in a press conference on Saturday that the railway network was on ‘high alert’ following the attacks, but admitted there is ‘no new evidence’ surrounding the identities of the culprits.
The junior minister said there ‘250 extra employees in the security sector on the railways’, adding: ‘We are working full tilt in order to get things back to normal.’
Security analyst Alex Kokcharov told MailOnline: ‘Russia has both the intent and capability to attempt sabotage acts in Europe, especially in France. Russian intent is largely linked to the fact that Russia was not invited to the Olympic games.’
