6. Fire under the Mont Blanc tunnel

6.1 Context

On March 14, 1953, the French and Italian governments signed an agreement to build and operate a tunnel linking Chamonix to Val d'Aoste.

Article 6 of the text provides for the creation of a joint administrative committee (CCA), and article 7 stipulates that the concessionaires must entrust all operations to a Franco-Italian company. On the same day, an intergovernmental control commission (CIG) was set up.

On March 25, 1965, 12 years later, as the joint venture had not been created, an amendment was drawn up specifying that the tunnel would be operated provisionally by the two concessionaires, meaning that each would manage its own concession.

On July 16, 1965, the tunnel was inaugurated and, three...