Travellers on trains trapped as electricity supply cut

Bordeaux: Thousands of passengers were trapped overnight on high-speed TGV trains halted by electrical problems in south-western France.

Frustrated travellers raised attention to their plight on social networks, posting images of children sleeping on floors and describing the challenge of staying masked for as much as 20 hours.

Some pleaded for water, food or fresh air, while several people were evacuated for medical reasons. National rail authority SNCF announced problems on multiple routes starting on Sunday afternoon, including a “major electrical supply failure” that required extensive repair efforts.

At least three trains, connecting Bordeaux with the cities of Dax, Hendaye and Tarbes, were stuck on tracks into the night, with knock-on effects on other routes.

SNCF will reimburse all passengers three times the cost of their tickets and is distributing 4,000 masks, water and food. Sixty kilometres of track suffered damage to highpower overhead cables.

Athens: Greece’s culture minister said the archaeological site of Mycenae has not been damaged by a wildfire that swept through the area, despite blackening the entrance to the ancient citadel.

Four water-dropping planes and two helicopters helped dozens of firefighters contain the blaze at the edge of one of Greece’s most important archaeological sites, some 75 miles south-west of Athens. The Bronze Age fortress city flourished centuries before the major Acropolis monuments were built in Athens and was a major centre of Mediterranean civilisation.

Katherine: Wildlife rangers have trapped a 14.5ft saltwater crocodile at a tourist destination in Australia’s Northern Territory.

The crocodile is the biggest caught in the area in years. The 770lb male was caught in the Flora River at a remote nature park 75 miles south-west of the Outback town of Katherine.

A larger 15.5ft crocodile was trapped three years ago in the same wildlife management zone, but that one was caught in the Katherine River, which is closer to the sea.

Crocodile numbers have been increasing across Australia’s tropical north since federal law made them a protected species in the early 1970s.

Oslo: Some 25 people at an illegal rave in a bunker in the Norwegian capital have been poisoned by carbon monoxide from portable generators.

Five people – including two police officers who were first on the scene – were taken to hospital in a critical condition but their lives are not in danger. Two of the five were released from intensive care.

Up to 200 party-goers in their 20s and 30s took part in the rave, which used diesel generators to power lighting and sound systems. Police discovered the event when a patrol met a group of confused young people in the park where the bunker lies. Emergency services found seven people unconscious in the bunker.

The company that owns the bunker described the illegal rave as a “serious break-in” and said the company did not bear any responsibility. The entrance to the bunker was previously closed with double-reinforced concrete. However, it was re-opened by new owners and only secured with wooden boards.