Tunnel delays as migrant is killed
Body found on Eurotunnel train and services are hit by delays of up to three hours
RAIL traffic through the Channel Tunnel was delayed today after an illegal immigrant was killed trying to board a freight train.
All trains from France were halted briefly at about 5.45 this morning after migrants were seen near the tunnel and a body was found on a Eurotunnel freight train bound for the UK.
The incident happened on the French side of the tunnel at Coquelles and is the second migrant death there in a fortnight after an Ethiopian was killed trying to climb on to a UK-bound train on June 26. Four migrants have been killed since June 1.
One of the six sections of the tunnel was closed off for the police investigation – there are three sections in each direction – and traffic was able to restart this morning with trains being rerouted round the closed section.
There were delays as trains had to switch tracks from the France-UK tunnel to the UK-France tunnel, with Eurostar citing delays of up to three hours for France-bound traffic and 60 minutes for UK-bound trains.
About 500 immigrants are thought to have gained access to the tunnel railhead and many tried to board a moving shuttle. The Boulogne-sur-Mer procureur said that the dead man, thought to be Eritrean, had fallen and broken his spine.
At the end of last week about 150 immigrants from Calais tried to attack the Eurotunnel terminal at Coquelles to get access to trains. They were halted by police.
The Pas-de-Calais prefecture said that there were about 3,000 illegal immigrants, mostly Eritrean, Ethiopian, Sudanese and Afghans camped at Calais trying to get to the UK.
UPDATE: Relevant compensation will apply to those travelling with delay as here http://t.co/HMD25HF1Cc. Apologies for impact to services— Eurostar (@Eurostar) July 7, 2015
