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IMMIGRATION

Refugee electrocuted at Channel Tunnel site

A refugee was electrocuted late Thursday near the entrance to the Channel Tunnel in France as he tried to climb on to the roof of a train to make his way to England, police said.

Refugee electrocuted at Channel Tunnel site
People on the tracks at Calais. Photo: AFP
“The individual died after he was electrocuted trying to climb on to the freight car,” a spokesman for the local authorities in northern France told AFP.
   
The migrant, thought to be a Syrian, was found dead shortly before midnight Thursday.
   
Officials said it was the 10th death of a migrant in or near the tunnel since late June.
   
A spokeswoman for Eurotunnel, which operates the cross-Channel link, said: “We deplore this event which proves once again that any attempt to cross the Channel illegally carries considerable risks.”
   
Around 3,000 migrants, mostly from Africa, Afghanistan and Syria, are camped in Calais near the Channel Tunnel entrance.
   
They have made repeated attempts to reach England, often by trying to enter the tunnel or climb on to lorries.
   
In July, Eurotunnel said 2,000 attempts a night were being made to get into the tunnel, but new fences erected around the tracks have greatly reduced the number of intrusions.
   
Eurostar said passenger train services were unaffected by the latest incident at a time when thousands of French supporters are making their way to London for the start of the Rugby World Cup.

IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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