Broken diesel fuel line C Class

Can anyone help? I am not a car expert or a mechanic, just a user.

Yesterday pulling off the motorway in the UK the brakes on my C Class faded badly and then within seconds the engine  stopped completely. I now know that  diesel fuel had sprayed over the front brake pads and all the engine. By the time the pick up truck arrived all my fuel had gone according to the dashboard indicator. The car an Oct 2002 220 Cdi is now at a dealers being fixed. This strikes me as a potentially lethal event.

Has it happened to anyone else?

JohnX