Migrants rushed the tunnel linking France and England repeatedly for a second night yesterday and one man was crushed by a truck in the chaos, deepening tensions surrounding the thousands of people camped in the northern French port city of Calais.
Eurotunnel said it had blocked more than 37,000 such attempts by migrants to reach Britain since January.
There were conflicting accounts of the number of people involved yesterday, ranging from 150 to as many as 1,200. However, French authorities and the firm agreed there had been about 2,000 attempts on each of the two successive nights.
Photo: AFP
The numbers have been growing as has the sense of crisis in recent weeks, spurred by new barriers around the Eurotunnel site, labor strife that turned the rails into protest sites for striking workers, and an influx of desperate migrants.
Many British officials have expressed growing alarm at what they see as a potential influx of foreigners, although it is not clear how many people have successfully made the passage.
Nine migrants have died in the attempt since last month, French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve said.
“This exceptional migrant situation has dramatic human consequences,” Cazeneuve said. “Calais is a mirror of conflicts tearing up regions of the world.”
About 25 migrants were seen getting off a public bus in Calais yesterday with a police officer, who left them by the side of the road. Several said they were returning from a night of trying to cross the Channel.
“[We] come from train here and tomorrow, inshallah, try again in the train,” said an Eritrean who would not give his name as he planned further attempts to reach England.
Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart said about 150 to 250 migrants tried repeatedly overnight to reach the Eurotunnel. French officials said it was the second night of mass attempts on the tunnel.
Gilles Debove, a police union official, counted about 2,000 attempts for a second night running. Debove said officers pushing back the migrants counted between 750 and 1,200 people.
Bouchart told France Info radio migrants are trying to reach England from France “at all costs” — first crossing a busy highway and then trying to stow away on trucks waiting to board trains. She says Britain, France and the Eurotunnel need to work together on the issue.
The man killed overnight, believed to be a Sudanese man in his mid-20s, was crushed by a truck as he tried to stow away, Debove said.
Cargo trucks were lined up overnight for several kilometers leading to the Eurotunnel freight loading zone, some of them stuck on a highway overpass above one of the many makeshift migrant camps. In a tweet, Eurotunnel said passenger trains were delayed an hour because of the overnight activity.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking during his visit to Singapore, described the crisis as “very concerning,” but that there was no point in “pointing fingers of blame.”
Other British officials blamed the government in France, where officials said Eurotunnel also needed to do more.
The British government has agreed to an extra ￡7 million (US$11 million) of funding for measures to improve security at Calais.
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