A fatigued and visibly chilly Belgian employee of a Luxembourg bank has finally shown up at work, three days after getting stuck behind a new fence at the border in the southwest of the country that officials hope will keep out wild boars possibly infected with African swine fever.
Risk analyst Laurence Bouchain, 29, lives in Athus and often walks across the border to take public transport from Petange. However, he says that on Monday his usual path was blocked, and that he was forced to take refuge until searchers came to his aid on Thursday.
“We’re not totally surprised,” said Annie Dugoet, a senior manager who supervises Bouchain. “Last year he missed a two days after getting stuck in a huge traffic jam, but it turns out that he had entered a rest stop and stopped behind a lorry whose driver was merely taking a long break.”
“And another time, he was several hours late because the elevator was broken and he didn’t realize he could take the stairs,” she added. “And let’s not forget the time he got trapped in the toilet because he didn’t know the door opened inwardly.”
Bouchain is now lobbying the government to build small pedestrian bridges every 50 meters along the fence so that other cross-border workers can avoid similar inconveniences.