EUROPE-MIGRANTS/CALAIS-EUROTUNNEL BREAK IN Migrants flood into Eurotunnel in Calais

Record ID: 145727

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/CALAIS-EUROTUNNEL BREAK IN Migrants flood into Eurotunnel in Calais
  • Date: 29th July 2015
  • Summary: COQUELLES-LE-MARAIS, FRANCE (JULY 29, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EUROTUNNEL ENTRANCE MIGRANTS TRYING TO ACCESS RAILWAY TRACKS THROUGH HOLE IN FENCE VARIOUS OF SECURITY CHASING MIGRANTS OFF TRACKS MIGRANTS WALKING AWAY MIGRANTS WALKING THROUGH FIELDS MIGRANTS CLIMBING UP TO BRIDGE VARIOUS OF GROUP OF MIGRANTS WALKING ALONG ROAD MIGRANTS CLIMBING THROUGH HOLE IN FENCE VARIOU
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1KV5PSXEOMHW9FXT1TMPJFDK8
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Groups of migrants desperate to enter Britain from France stormed the channel tunnel on Wednesday (July 29).
    As evening fell migrants broke through holes in fences as security guards attempted to keep them off the tracks and police held them back in the street.
    Freight and passenger traffic through the rail tunnel has been severely disrupted as migrants camping out in shanty towns in the Calais area have repeatedly tried to board trucks and trains travelling from France to Britain.
    There were about 1,500 attempts by migrants to enter the tunnel on Tuesday (July 28) night, a Eurotunnel spokesman said, after 2,000 attempts the previous night.
    Some were likely repeat attempts by the same people.
    France said it was sending 120 more police officers to the site while Britain said it was pressing ahead with erecting a nine-foot (three-metre) fence to protect the terminal.
    The scale of the crisis has been highlighted in recent weeks by the sight of migrants lining roads and scrambling to jump into moving vehicles.
    Rocks have been thrown at trucks and migrants have in some cases clashed with drivers and police.
    31-year old migrant Nazirullah, who had come to Calais from Afghanistan, called on the international community to act.
    "People are losing their lives, so please, if the international community, especially, people are going to UK. Accept them or reject them, tell the French government to finish them all and let them go to their own country because everyday we come here. Our lives are at risk. Yesterday three people have died," he said on Wednesday.
    Nazirullah said he used to work in the French embassy in Afghanistan and has tried to cross the channel every day for the past three months.
    A Sudanese man who died trying to cross on Wednesday is believed to have been hit by a truck leaving one of the shuttles that transport vehicles through the tunnel, French police said.
    French media said he was the ninth migrant to be killed in the crisis since early June.
    The crisis has turned into a blame game with Eurotunnel asking French and British governments to reimburse it for the 10 million euros ($11 million) it has spent to increase security to cope with the latest migrant crisis at Calais.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register