One person has been found dead as migrants trying to reach the UK made at least 1,500 attempts to enter the Eurotunnel terminal at the French port town of Calais, police have said.



Th man, of believed to be aged between 25 and 30, and of Sudanese origin, was hit by a truck that was leaving a cross-Channel ferry, the police source told Agence-France Presse on Wednesday morning. A spokesman for Eurotunnel added: “Our team found a corpse this morning and the firefighters have confirmed the death of this person.”

At total of nine migrants have died near the Channel tunnel terminal since June. Two other Sudanese migrants, both in their 30s, were recovering in hospital after being struck by high-speed trains on Monday.

The British home secretary, Theresa May, was scheduled to chair an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesday morning about the growing Calais migrant crisis.

“Everything happened overnight and at 6am [French time], the police still have quite a lot of work to do,” said the police source, adding that between 500 and 1,000 migrants were still around the tunnel site.

Theresa May to chair Cobra meeting as Cameron pushes for end to Calais crisis Read more

According to the last official count in July, about 3,000 migrants, mainly from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Afghanistan, were living in the makeshift camps in Calais.

The overnight attempts to storm the Eurotunnel terminal came after migrants made about 2,000 endeavours to enter the site on Tuesday, in what was described as the biggest incursion in the past month and a half.

A group of young men told Channel 5 News that it was their friend who had died attempting reach the tunnel. “Someone over there died, he died. Nobody help him,” one man said, pointing in the direction of the crossing. The reporter points out to the men than an ambulance is at the scene.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Calais migrants tell 5 News how their friend was killed. Link to video

Gilles Debove, a police officer in Calais and head of a policing union, told France Info radio: “They are intrusions, attempts, it’s not a wave of 2,000 migrants, but three weeks ago there were 500. So the figure has gone up four times in the last three weeks.”

A Eurotunnel spokesman told France 24 television the company’s entire security staff of 200 were working through the night to try to prevent migrants entering the site.

Eurotunnel’s John Keefe said none of the 1,500 attempts by migrants was successful in crossing the Channel, having made the three-mile journey from the camps on foot and then waiting for nightfall. He added that migrants were not coming “anywhere near” the tunnel itself, and that most had made their way to the platforms to try to hide in trucks or on trains directly.

Speaking in Singapore before the latest death was announced, David Cameron said finger-pointing over who was to blame for the repeated closure of the Eurotunnel served no purpose.

The British prime minister said he felt sympathy with British holidaymakers and the situation was not satisfactory. “This is very concerning. We are working very closely with the French. We have invested money in the fencing around Calais, including fencing around the entrance to the tunnel.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Cameron says the government is doing all it can to ease Calais migrant crisis

“We are doing everything we can. We know how important this is,” he said, adding that the government would be working with the French “to bring these things to a conclusion”.

Cameron said the government had found an extra £7m to improve the quality of fencing after criticism from Eurotunnel that the UK was not doing enough to address the problem.

A spokesman for the company said: “This is an issue that is really for the government to sort out. We need them to stop the migrant flow from Calais, but it appears to be too much for them to handle.

“It was the freight terminal and there was some damage to our fences, which we’ll have to repair, as they tried to board shuttles. Fortunately, there wasn’t any damage to shuttles. Unfortunately, a number of people were injured.” He added: “It is an almost nightly occurrence – we’re trying to run a travel business here.”

Over the course of Monday night there were about 2,000 attemptst to breach the fences at the Eurotunnel terminal, causing disruption for cross-Channel travellers. The Foreign Office has advised UK travellers to consider using other ports such as Le Havre.

Eurotunnel said its services were operating to schedule on Wednesday morning but advised passengers to allow extra time for their journey, with Operation Stack, where sections of the M20 are closed to give space to queueing lorries, still in place.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Migrants walk along railway tracks at the Eurotunnel terminal. Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

Cameron blamed what he called the cancer of corruption at the heart of low economic growth in poorer countries, which in turn led to some migrants wanting to leave their home countries and travel to the UK.

May announced the extra £7m funding to step up security at the Channel tunnel railhead in Coquelles after a meeting between UK government officials and their French counterparts to discuss the disruption.

May said: “The French and UK governments are working in close collaboration and cooperation on this issue, which affects us both. We are both clear that we need to ensure we are dealing with the terrible criminal gangs, the people smugglers, who are making a profit out of the human misery of many people.”

May said French authorities had committed extra resources to security at Calais. Asked why British taxpayers should be paying for a problem taking place on French soil, she said: “We have juxtaposed controls at the border. We work together on dealing with this particular problem.”

The home secretary said she was very aware of the impact of the crisis on lorry drivers, those affected by delays and the people of Kent.

Earlier this month, May announced that a new secure zone would be created at Calais for UK-bound lorries in response to an unprecedented surge in migrants attempting to cross the Channel.

Natacha Bouchart, mayor of Calais, has called for a summit involving ministers from France and Britain, Eurotunnel, the ports, and Calais officials. Speaking on radio station France Info on Wednesday morning, she said: “It’s simply a global hypocrisy that doesn’t want to tackle the problems and the consequences of a decision of a European country that has different rules and which therefore must accept to change and to find acceptable solutions for all.”

Damian Collins, the MP for Folkestone and Hythe, which has been affected by the disruption of ferry and train services as well as Operation Stack, said the French police needed to “get a grip”, though he welcomed the extra funding.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Migrants walk on a road outside the Eurotunnel area in Calais early on Wednesday. Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

“French authorities have allowed people willingly to break into the Channel tunnel site. I can’t believe they would be that lax were it an airport or another sensitive facility,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Principally, this is French territory and I cannot imagine this situation to occur within the United Kingdom.”

The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, said the army should be drafted in to help search vehicles coming into Britain for illegal immigrants. He told LBC radio: “In all civil emergencies like this we have an army, we have a bit of a TA and we have a very, very overburdened police force and border agency.

“If in a crisis, to make sure we’ve actually got the manpower to check lorries coming in to stop people illegally coming to Britain … if in those circumstances we can use the army or other forces then why not?”

The Home Office said 1.2 miles of fencing would secure each side of the platform at Coquelles. It was being supplied from the security fencing used at a Nato summit in Newport last year and would be in place by the end of the month.

Eurotunnel is also installing a mile of permanent fencing on both sides of the freight approach road, which will be in place by September, and will also introduce a secure truck zone for 875 vehicles to wait at the port. with temporary zones already in place. A similar secure truck zone for the port of Calais will protect 230 vehicles, the Home Office said.

A Home Office spokesman said France and Britain had agreed to work together on returning migrants to their countries of origin, particularly those arriving from west Africa.

• This article was updated on 29 July 2015 to reflect later information that figures relating to incursions at the Eurotunnel site relate to individual attempts, not total number of migrants.