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19 March 2024

Migrant deaths in the Eurotunnel

A car of the security society of Eurotunnel follows a group of migrants, in Calais, northern France, Wednesday, July 29, 2015. About 2,100 migrants tried to storm the area surrounding the Eurotunnel early Tuesday before being repelled by police, an official in the northern French port of Calais said. (AP)

Published

At least 1,500 migrants attempted to enter the Eurotunnel terminal in France late Tuesday to cross under the Channel into England, resulting in one death.

It was the ninth such death since the beginning of June, and followed a wave of attempts overnight by migrants hoping to make it through the tunnel to Britain.

Eurotunnel said the company was up against "systematic, massive, maybe even organised invasions", as France promised to send 120 additional police officers to help secure the site.

Following is a roundup of reported deaths among migrants trying to reach the UK via the rail tunnel over the past five years.

- 2015 -

- June 26: An Ethiopian is killed near the tunnel as he tried to climb on board one of its lorry-carrying shuttles.

- July 7: Another migrant dies inside the tunnel between France and Britain.

- July 20: Three migrants die of burns suffered a few days earlier as they tried to enter the tunnel.

- July 22: A migrant drowns in Calais while trying to gain access to the tunnel.

- July 24: An Ethiopian migrant is struck and killed by a car on a highway near Calais.

- 2014 -

- May 5: An Eritrean is killed after jumping from a lorry after he realised it was heading in the wrong direction.
The same day, two other migrants drown in the port of Calais trying to reach a ferry terminal.
- May 23: An 18-year-old Sudanese man is crushed by the bus he was hanging to.
According to the Calais Migrant Solidarity group, more than 20 migrants died in 2014.

- 2012 -

- August 13: The body of a young Asian woman is found at the base of a cliff near Boulogne-sur-Mer. A probe determined that she fell while trying to reach the beach to swim across the English Channel.

- 2009 -

- April 5: The unidentified body of a migrant is found inside the tunnel, eight kilometres (five miles) from the French entrance.
- October 30: The body of a 25-year-old Indian migrant is found inside a Slovenian lorry. He and two other migrant companions had hoped to make it on to a ferry bound for Britain.