This weekend is the 12th anniversary of the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire of March 24, 1999. To commemorate the tragedy a ceremony will be held this Saturday at 16:15 at the monument that stands just before the entrance to the tunnel.
On Sunday a cavalcade of motorcyclists will do a drive-through of the tunnel in memory of Pierlucio "Spadino" Tinazzi, an Italian tunnel security guard who drove into the burning tunnel 5 times to rescue people and bring them out on the back of his motorbike. On his 5th trip he died whilst attempting to drag a truck driver to safety.
Bikers are expected to gather in their hundreds at the French entrance to the tunnel from 11.30am. The procession through to the Italian side is expected to take until around 2pm, during which time all other traffic will be blocked.
