Hundreds of emergency service staff descended into the Channel Tunnel on Saturday night after a “fire” on a train.

It wasn’t a real fire, but an exercise arranged so staff could rehearse for emergencies under the sea.

Eurotunnel said BINAT 19, so called as it is a bi-national operation, ran smoothly and was a valuable aid to keeping safety standards high.

All services were stopped overnight on Saturday while the exercise was in progress, with more than 60 actors playing the parts of passengers on the train.

Eurotunnel spokesperson Charlotte Brookes said: “The scenario involved an incident on-board a passenger train and the evacuation of all those travelling, including several 'injured’ passengers.

“The exercise required the coordinated response of the emergency services from both sides of the Channel and Eurotunnel managers, as well as actors from the Red Cross playing the part of passengers

“This exercise is very important for our safety procedures and means that everything runs smoothly in the event of a real emergency.”

BINAT 19 was co-ordinated by staff on the UK side of the Channel and involved the fire, ambulance and police services from both the UK and France.

Shuttle services were suspended between 11pm and 6am UK time overnight.