UK

One man killed as 1,500 try to enter Channel Tunnel

Eurotunnel says it has stopped 37,000 migrants trying to cross into the UK
Eurotunnel says it has stopped 37,000 migrants trying to cross into the UK Eurotunnel says it has stopped 37,000 migrants trying to cross into the UK

ONE man has been killed after hundreds of migrants attempted to storm the Channel Tunnel in Calais.

The victim, understood to be Sudanese and aged between 25 and 30, was reportedly crushed by a truck as an estimated 1,500 people tried to gain access to the tunnel on Tuesday night. He was the ninth migrant to lose his life in recent weeks.

Eurotunnel, which operates the Channel Tunnel services, said that incursions by migrants had become an “almost nightly occurrence” and called on the British government to take action. The company said it has blocked more than 37,000 people attempting to cross into the UK this year.

Speaking in Singapore, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Home Secretary Theresa May would later chair a meeting of Cobra, the government’s emergency committee, to discuss the crisis. The government has made £7 million available to pay for 1.2 miles of security fencing being erected at Calais.

He expressed sympathy for the holidaymakers who had been affected by the situation at Calais.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has called for the army to be drafted to conduct vehicle checks in Dover for migrants attempting to gain access to Britain.

Meanwhile, Verona Murphy, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), said some of its members had paid fines of up to 30,000 euros after migrants were found on their trucks while those refusing to pay are being warned their vehicles will be seized if they enter the UK.

Hauliers and drivers face fines of £2,000 each for every migrant found in a truck – amounts that small, family-run haulage operations could not afford to pay, she said.