A fire in a moving vehicle forced the closure of the southbound Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel on Friday. Checks will have to be carried out on the structure.
Posted at 12:10 p.m.
Updated at 1:23 p.m.
The event in question occurred around 6:30 a.m., at the start of the day, at kilometer 2 of the tunnel. It was closed in the south direction by the Sûreté du Québec, the time to secure the scene.
Several vehicles had to be temporarily evacuated, but no one was injured. Around 8 a.m., the fire was declared under control by firefighters.
Despite this, the tunnel will remain closed in this direction until at least 6 p.m. on Friday, due to checks on the condition of the structure to be carried out by the Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ), as required by the protocol. A first reopening time had first been set for 3 p.m., but was postponed to 6 p.m. in the early afternoon.