Eurostar hits wild boar in France, sparking three-hour delays

Passengers on both sides of the Channel took to Twitter as the announcement came that services would be suspended until the unfortunate animal could be retrieved from the track in Quilleval, near Lille.

The delays lasted for about three hours after the collision.

John Nilsson-Wright ‏(@Iyagihada) tweeted: “Eurostar punches above its weight in terms of surprises. Wild boar on track delays 20.01 out of London.”

And Evan O’Connell ‏(@evanoconnell) reported that passengers in France had been told: “Dear @Eurostar passengers: the train in front of us has hit a wild boar. We will not be able to leave Calais until 11pm.”

Emmanuel Nataf ‏(@EmmanuelNataf) wrote: “Right, the other #Eurostar train has hit a wild boar. Hopefully we can use other tracks.”

A Eurostar spokesman confirmed on social media that the boar “probably didn’t fare too well, sadly”, but added: “Everyone else is perfectly fine and almost home now.”

Explaining the delays, he told one traveller: “The walk is quite long (around 3km) as they checked to see what the train had struck. Once they’re back we’ll get you moving.”

Sonja Heinen ‏(@sonjaheinen) opined that “Eurostar is great, until it hits a wild boar.”

And Sophia (@drsophiapathai) wrote: “So it turns out a wild boar impeded my trip on #eurostar.

“Oh well, can’t help the forces of nature. Glad to be home.”

At 1.39am Eurostar announced that normal service had been resumed. All services were this morning departing St Pancras on time.

Last night’s incident came three days after cable thefts in Calais sparked delays of up to 45 minutes. In recent months, refugees trying to cross the tunnel on foot have grounded the service several times, while a group of people clinging to the top of a train in a desperate attempt to reach Britain saw a train stranded outside Calais for 16 hours.