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Friday 24 March 2023 Dublin: 11°C
AP/Press Association Images A migrant attempts to enter the Channel Tunnel at Calais in August
# suspended
Channel Tunnel closed as migrants occupy complex
The cross-channel rail line has been a repeat target for migrants attempting to reach Britain.

TRAFFIC THROUGH THE Channel Tunnel connecting Britain and France was suspended early this morning after around 100 migrants entered the French side of the tunnel complex, the company operating it said in a statement.

“At around 12:30 am, around 100 migrants forced a closure and the entry of security agents into the tunnel,” a Eurotunnel spokeswoman told AFP.

We have suspended the service.

She said police were at the site and that traffic remained suspended.

Ten people, including seven migrants, suffered minor injuries in the storming of the tunnel, a firefighter at the scene said.

The interior ministers of France and Britain in August signed an agreement to set up a new “command and control centre” to tackle smuggling gangs in Calais, as Europe grapples with its biggest migration crisis since World War II.

It came after attempts to penetrate the sprawling Eurotunnel site spiked that month, with migrants trying several times a night to outfox hopelessly outnumbered security officials and police.

Thousands of people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia are camped in Calais in slum-like conditions, and at least 13 have died since 26 June trying to cross over into Britain, where many have family and work is thought easier to find.

© – AFP, 2015

Read: ‘Don’t do this, it’s my son’s birthday’: Army veteran confronted gunman during college shooting

Read: Passengers told to listen for ‘walking on roof’ as migrants cause Channel Tunnel chaos

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