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Migrant reportedly dies trying to board Channel tunnel freight train Migrant reportedly dies trying to board Channel tunnel freight train
(about 1 hour later)
An Eritrean migrant has reportedly died on the French side of the Channel tunnel after trying to board a moving freight train. An Eritrean man is understood to have died on the French side of the Channel tunnel as he tried to board a moving freight train bound for the UK.
The man was killed after attempting to get on a train at Coquelles, according to firefighters quoted by the daily Le Parisien newspaper. The unnamed man was found at about 5am near the terminal in Calais, a spokesman for Euro Tunnel said.
A spokesman for Channel tunnel operator Eurotunnel said a suspected migrant was apparently found unconscious at the terminal at about 5am local time. Aid workers say the situation in the French port has deteriorated in the past few months as more people arrive in the camps, and migrants – many of them unaccompanied children and teenagers – take ever greater risks to get to the UK.
“I understand that the person was pronounced deceased but we haven’t had any official confirmation of that,” he added. “We don’t know what the circumstances are just yet, but obviously this is a very regrettable incident.” This week, a strike by French workers at the port caused huge tailbacks on motorways leading to both the ferry port andChannel tunnel. Hundreds of migrants – mainly from east Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan – attempted to take advantage of queuing traffic by breaking into lorries bound for the UK.
The incident came in the week that Calais descended into chaos as the Channel tunnel was shut and migrants exploited a wildcat strike by French ferry workers by trying to board UK-bound lorries. Related: At least 15 migrants died in ‘shameful’ Calais conditions in 2014
French ferry protesters burned tyres and hay bales, gridlocking roads leading to the port, while migrants tried to take advantage of slowing and stationary lorries by clambering on board. On Wednesday, Riswan, a 19-year-old from Pakistan, who had been in the camp, known as the “new jungle”, for a month, told the Guardian the situation was very dangerous.
Dozens of migrants were seen in helicopter footage walking on the sides of the motorways looking for opportunities to jump on to lorries destined for Dover. He said many migrants had been hurt the night before as hundreds of people took ever greater risks to get on to lorries and trains bound for the UK. “One boy was badly injured in his chest when a wheel went over him,” he said. “There was lots of blood.”
More problems ensued as French ferry workers striking over fears of losing their jobs then trespassed on to Eurotunnel tracks, forcing services to be aborted. Other migrants told how they had tried to cling to the bottom of lorries and trains but had either fallen or been dragged off by police. “Many people have been hurt but what else to do?,” said an Afghan man. “We have to keep trying because this is no place to stay.”
The problems come amid the worsening migrant plight in Calais, where numbers camped have swelled to more than 3,000 since April. Aid workers have reported a “catastrophic” situation, with predictions that some 2,000 more migrants displaced from war-torn countries including Eritrea, Syria and Afghanistan could arrive over the summer. Last year, a Guardian investigation revealed that at least 15 people living in the makeshift camps in Calais had died trying to get to the UK in just 12 months. Aid workers say the situation has got even worse in the past six months.
Volunteers from l’Auberge des Migrants say up to 50 new migrants were arriving every day at the camp, dubbed the Jungle II, and there were not enough tents, blankets or food. Related: Calais migrants: 'we have to keep trying because this is no place to stay'
British travellers were being urged in advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to keep vehicle doors locked in traffic and when unattended in Calais. Martine Devries, from Médicins du Monde, a medical charity that works with the migrants, said people in the camp were hungry and living in appalling conditions. “It is much worse than it was before. There are more people and they are becoming more desperate and are taking more risks.
“Last year, people would only make attempts to get on to lorries at night. Now there are so many and they are so desperate people are trying in broad daylight.”
French police do not keep a record of how many migrants die trying to get to the UK from Calais.
On Friday, a spokesman for the Euro Tunnel said: “I understand that the person was pronounced deceased but we haven’t had any official confirmation of that. We don’t know what the circumstances are just yet, but obviously this is a very regrettable incident.”