Eiffel Tower evacuated following bomb alert

Tourists were evacuated from the Eiffel Tower just before 9pm local time (8pm in the UK), according to French newspaper Le Figaro.

The company that runs the Eiffel Tower received an anonymous phone call saying that there was a bomb planted there at 8.20pm.

A policeman said that 2,500 people were calmly evacuated from the Tower and were told by police to gather on the banks of the River Seine in central Paris, beyond a security corden created by the French forces.

Police were using sniffer dogs to check the Tower level-by-level, and an hour after the initial warning the Tower had still not been reopened to the public.

Traffic in the centre of Paris was thrown into chaos as the roads around the Eiffel Tower were shut.

The 324m (1,063ft) iron lattice tower, built in 1889, is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions. Last year it attracted 6.6 million visitors.

Police also evacuated a central Parisian train station at around the same time.

The Saint-Michel train station, not far from Notre Dame Cathedral, was shut for 15 minutes following a bomb threat. The station was reopened at 10.10pm after a police check.

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(source:telegraph.co.uk)