Man Killed as 1.5K Try to Storm Channel Tunnel

One migrant desperate to reach UK was killed by truck
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 29, 2015 4:18 AM CDT
Man Killed as 1.5K Try to Storm Channel Tunnel
A poster warns about the risk of death on railroad tracks ahead of the Channel tunnel.   (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

Some 1,500 migrants tried to storm the tunnel that links Britain and France last night, and French police say one of them, a Sudanese man, was killed by a truck, the BBC reports. The latest attempt follows a Monday night attempt by 2,000 people to storm the area around the tunnel before they were repelled by police. A Eurotunnel rep tells CNN that some of the migrants were injured in the Monday night incident, and mass attempts to storm the area in Calais, northern France, are becoming an almost nightly occurrence.

Calais is a key port for sea and land crossings to Britain. In recent months, thousands of migrants from Eritrea, Sudan, and beyond have camped out around the city. Some try to sneak across the English Channel by getting on trucks and freight trains. The encampments have soured relations between Britain and France, which blame each other for failing to cope with the crisis. The BBC reports that the man killed last night was the ninth person killed trying to enter the tunnel area since June. (More Eurotunnel stories.)

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