Eurostar train breaks down, 740 stranded

AFP - A Eurostar train with hundreds of passengers on board got stuck in southeast England on Sunday after experiencing technical problems, media reported.
  
The cross-Channel train operator said 740 travellers on the Paris to London service got trapped at around 10:00 pm (2200 GMT) near Ashford, in Kent, a station on the Eurostar train route, according to the BBC.
  
British Transport Police said a rescue train had arrived to take people off the stranded train and take them on to St Pancras station in London.
  
The service's departure from Gare du Nord in the French capital late Sunday had already been delayed after an unattended bag caused a security alert.
  
A passenger called Oliver told Sky News television that the train suddenly stopped and the lights went out.
  
"It's getting fairly hot, but people are very calm, very relaxed," he said.
  
Eurostar has recently been hit by a series of problems, the most serious being the breakdown of five trains carrying more than 2,000 passengers in the Channel Tunnel during the busy pre-Christmas period.