AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUENPHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images Migrants who successfully crossed the Eurotunnel terminal walk on the side of the railroad as they try to reach a shuttle to Great Britain, on July 28, 2015 in Frethun, northern France.
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Meanwhile, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that an extra 120 police officers would be dispatched to Calais to help secure the Eurotunnel site.
Freight and passenger traffic through the rail tunnel has been severely disrupted as migrants camped out in shanty towns in the Calais area have repeatedly tried to board trucks and trains travelling from France to Britain.
Attempts to penetrate the sprawling Eurotunnel site have spiked in recent days, with migrants trying several times a night to outfox hopelessly outnumbered security officials and police.
After winning May’s election, Cameron pledged new laws to control immigration even though his government passed new laws on the issue past year. But numerous estimated 3000 people living in the squalid tent cities around Calais hail from other African nations such as Sudan and Eritrea, and some from Syria; they would be likely to apply for political asylum.
Many attribute the push into Britain to more job opportunities for low-wage and illegal workers. Such hopes are encouraged by traffickers who squeeze money out of migrants on their arduous journeys from the war zones of the Middle East and from Africa.
According to the France Info website, the man who died on Tuesday night was identified as being Sudanese and aged between 25 and 30. There were conflicting reports on the number involved Wednesday, ranging from 150 to as many as 1,200.
Each half has two loading/unloading wagons and 12 carrier wagons.
A Eurotunnel spokesman told the BBC: “It is a nightly assault by hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants who are trying to get to the UK by any means possible”.
The Eurotunnel company itself is seeking $10.67m from the British and French governments in compensation for disruption caused by the migrants.
Wave after wave… migrants crudely mask their faces as they approach the route leading to the Eurotunnel in Coquelles.
For the most part, migrants caught trying to enter the tunnel are released nearly immediately.
“The pressure we are now under every night exceeds that which an operator can reasonably handle, and calls for an appropriate reaction from the states” of France and Britain, the firm stressed in a statement.
Paul Carter, leader of Kent County Council, has met officials from the Home Office to highlight the impact of hundreds of minors arriving unaccompanied at the port of Dover.
Irish acceptance Though Britain chose not to participate in the relocation programme, the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, announced that Ireland will accept 600 migrants over the next two years.
British Home Secretary Theresa May said Britain was pressing for a bigger fence around the Calais terminal to stop people from entering the French end of the tunnel.
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The United Kingdom government this week said it will spend another £7 million beefing up security fencing on the French side of the Channel Tunnel.
