Migrants trying to enter UK via Channel Tunnel will face tighter security in France
France is sending an additional 120 police officers to Calais to manage the huge number of migrants trying to travel to the UK via the Channel Tunnel.
Following talks with home secretary Theresa May, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said increased security forces would be placed at the entrance temporarily. New security fencing is being erected there.
The UK has committed to spending an extra £7m on securing the route, which will be additional to the £10m it promised last year.
Following an emergency Cobra committee meeting, May said:
Crucially what we are looking at now is improving security at the railhead at Coquelles, so we can ensure people are not trying to come through the tunnel.That means some urgent work in government but also with Eurotunnel, and Eurotunnel has a role to play here in the measures they themselves put in place to protect their trains.
Eurotunnel delays
Migrants have increasingly been attempting to cross the tunnel into the UK, and on Monday and Tuesday this week the number reached a combined total of 3,500.
This has resulted in severe delays to Eurotunnel train services, with passengers in the UK now facing waiting times of two hours. There are currently no delays on the French side, but this side of service has also been affected regularly over the last month.
A Eurotunnel source told the BBC the attempted crossings had become an “almost nightly occurrence”. Since June, nine people have died making the journey, including a young man of Sudanese origin on Tuesday night.