Basel-Mulhouse airport has been evacuated for “security reasons”, the Franco-Swiss platform said on Friday, while the rail network in France is already seriously disrupted after attacks on rail infrastructure.
“For security reasons, the terminal had to be evacuated and is currently closed. Further information will be provided shortly,” the airport, located in France near the border with Switzerland, said in a statement.
Numerous bomb threats also led to the evacuation of airports in France following the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 and the killing in France of teacher Dominique Bernard on October 13 by a former student accused of Islamic radicalization.
Basel-Mulhouse Airport is the third largest airport in Switzerland after Zurich and Geneva and one of the largest in the French provinces.
The French railway company said on Friday that TGV high-speed train (TGV) lines were set on fire overnight, classifying the act as a massive attack just hours before the opening of the Olympic Games.
“Several simultaneous malicious acts” affected the TGV Atlantique, Nord and Est lines, with arson attacks damaging “structures on high-speed lines,” the rail group explained in a press release.
As a result, high-speed train (TGV) services on these three axes are experiencing many “disruptions”, with some services between London and Paris cancelled, according to the French railway company (SNCF).
However, the south-eastern TGV line is “not affected”, the group clarified.
The group warns that “the situation is expected to last at least through the weekend while interventions are carried out.”
The attack comes just hours before the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, when many people are planning to travel to the capital.
The Paris government has already responded, with French Sports Minister Amélie Oudea-Caster classifying the “massive attack” on the rail network as an “act of sabotage” and saying authorities were assessing the impact on travel and ensuring the transport of delegations to the Paris competition venues.
“Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your field, against your country,” Amélie Oudea-Castera said in an interview with BFM television, stressing that the 2024 Olympic Games “have been prepared with great care by several hundred thousand people for almost 10 years.”
In turn, at a press conference, French Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete announced “very serious consequences” for rail traffic.
Paris region president Valérie Pécresse condemned “an attempt to destabilise France” on a key day for the country.
The attacks involved coordinated arson attacks on power cables for signaling and communications.
The traffic jams will last at least the entire weekend and will occur not only on the opening day of the Paris Olympics, but also on special departure and arrival days during the holidays.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said Friday that he has “full confidence in the French authorities” following the sabotage of the SNCF network hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
“No, I have no concerns,” the IOC president responded to a question from the press about the attack on SNCF while watching the torch handover ceremony in the Olympic village of Saint-Denis.
“We have complete confidence in the French authorities. All measures are being taken, and the French authorities are being assisted by 180 other intelligence agencies around the world,” added Thomas Bach.