Supervisors `fanned' fire

Paris - Safety supervisors on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc tunnel turned on the ventilation rather than smoke extractors during the blaze that killed 39 people, according to a Franco-Italian inquiry report. Safety procedures in the event of a fire "called for smoke extractors to be turned on maximum capacity . . . but this requirement was not implemented on the Italian side," the final report on the fire states. "Fanning in fresh air rather than extracting the smoke only contributed to making matters worse," it stated.