Trains filled with Olympic athletes stopped after coordinated arson attacks

Flames engulfed train tracks at ‘strategic points’ across the country this morning, just hours before the Olympic Opening Ceremony was due to kick off on the River Seine in Paris.

Around 800,000 travellers have been affected by the cancellations, including two German showjumpers set to take part in the opening ceremony who will now miss the event.

‘There was no longer a chance of making it on time,’ rider Philipp Weishaupt, who was travelling with teammate Christian Kukuk, told German news agency dpa.