A week after a fire killed 40 people in the Mont Blanc tunnel, President Jacques Chirac arrived at the site yesterday to hear claims of negligence and incompetence levelled at the management of the seven-mile Alpine link between France and Italy.
Mr Chirac's visit could be seen as expressing support for the tunnel firm's chairman, Mr Remy Chardon, whose resignation has been demanded by local officials, drivers and newspapers. Mr Chardon was given the job on the president's recommendation after running Mr Chirac's office at the Paris city hall.
Mr Chardon said allegations of negligence on his part were "lies", but the fire brigade at Chamonix and the central government's representative said there had been warnings about the tunnel's potential danger as recently as last year.
Mr Jean-Pierre Delaloy, a haulier who lost two drivers in the fire, said that past administrators, all of whom had high-level government patronage, had ignored pleas for better safety measures.
"I hate these people who have filled their pockets and refused to invest their dividends to improve safety," he said.
While the official inquiry takes place, inspections have been ordered for a score of French road tunnels, including Frejus, a nearby eight-mile link under the Alps which motorists argue is also a risk. Since the fire, Frejus's traffic has doubled.
Accounts of the disaster have exposed serious security failures. The drama began on March 24th when a Belgian truck, carrying margarine, caught fire as it entered the tunnel from France and was abandoned by the driver at the halfway point. He escaped unhurt. Despite portable telephone warnings by other drivers, several vehicles were allowed to enter the tunnel when it was already full of smoke. At least 30 vehicles were trapped and their passengers were burnt to death.
Investigators discovered that only one fireman was on permanent duty on the French side of the tunnel. By the time a full alert was given, heavy smoke was forcing rescuers to retreat.
Not until more than 36 hours later, when 13 firemen had been taken to hospital after approaching the fire from the Italian end, did the extent of the tragedy became known, forcing officials to raise their original estimate of four dead. Initial inquiries have shown that smoke warnings and video cameras failed, extractors were inadequate and emergency shelters ill-equipped. During the first critical phase, tunnel management told firemen that only one vehicle was trapped.
Traffic through the singletube tunnel, which has no pavement or parallel access route for emergency teams, is unlikely to resume for months. The inquiry team could decide to shut it permanently. When it was built in 1965, the tunnel carried a tenth of today's traffic, which at peak seasons has risen to about 4,000 lorries an hour.
Philip Willan adds from Rome:
Mr Massimo Cacciari, the popular left-wing mayor of Venice, is to go on trial on May 31st for negligence in connection with the fire that destroyed the Fenice Opera House in 1996. The theatre's superintendent at the time of the fire, Mr Gianfranco Pontel, and six other theatre and city council administrators are also to be tried on the same charge.
Two electricians who were engaged on restoration work will be tried for arson. Mr Enrico Carella and Mr Massimiliano Marchetti were arrested in May, 1997. It is alleged that they started the fire deliberately because their company faced financial penalties for failing to complete the work on time.