Paris – At least one person has been found dead as about 1 500 migrants desperate to reach England made a renewed attempts to enter the Eurotunnel terminal overnight in the French port town of Calais, a police source has told the AFP news agency.
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Theresa May, the British home secretary, presided Wednesday over an emergency No. 10 Downing Street meeting of senior ministers and officials.
The fresh attempts came despite the death of a man, believed to be a Sudanese national and aged between 25 and 30, who was crushed by a lorry on Tuesday.
The French police said there had been about 2,100 attempts by the foreigners Monday to gain access to the tunnel, also referred to as the Chunnel.
Freight and passenger traffic through the rail tunnel has been severely disrupted as migrants camped out in shantytowns in the Calais area have repeatedly tried to board trucks and trains traveling from France to Britain.
Eurotunnel said it had blocked 37,000 migrants trying to make their way to Britain since the beginning of the year.
As well as migrants storming the Channel Tunnel and ferry worker strikes, French farmers had destroyed Scottish fish in Brittany as part of a dispute over cheap imports.
“In this context, Eurotunnel and its employees, who hold to their task despite the psychological pressure that weighs on them, continue to guarantee a rapid and safe Channel crossing for its millions of customers”, it said. France’s government, meanwhile, called on Eurotunnel, the company that operates the tunnel, to step up its protection of the sensitive site. Some were probably repeat attempts by the same people. Observers say their push to enter the 50-kilometer undersea tunnel intensified in recent weeks after authorities stepped up port security to block migrants from stowing away on Britain-bound vessels.
In a July 23 letter sent by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to Eurotunnel boss Jacques Gounon and seen by Reuters, Cazeneuve accused Eurotunnel of not doing enough to ensure Tunnel security “given the worsening situation”. “We have got to deal with that problem at its source as well”.
Asked if he would use the word “swarm”, Mr Farage told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “No. No, I’m not seeking to use language like that”.
Mr Keefe said that migrants are not getting “anywhere near” the tunnel itself, and that the disruption is being caused on the platforms.
Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman said: “He should remember he is talking about people not insects and I don’t think it’s going to distract attention for him to just be trying to whip up hostility to those migrants in Calais when he should be sorting the situation out.
We’re working very closely with the French”, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday while on an official visit to Singapore.
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Lorry driver Sean Swan said he was given a police escort from Junction 8 on the M20 to Dover because he was carrying live fish on Tuesday. Early Thursday morning, there were no reported delays on either side of the Channel Tunnel on what is expected to be a busy day at peak European vacation season.
