London: As many as 2,000 Eurostar passengers were affected and many left stranded after train services between Britain and France had to be suspended due to “migrant activity” on tracks close to the French city of Calais, reports PTI. Eurotunnel, which manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between the two countries, said the tracks used by high-speed Eurostar trains and national network freight trains had been “blocked by groups of migrants”.
Eurostar said the delays had affected up to 2,000 passengers due to the surge of migrants. A spokesperson said they were getting on to the railway tracks after security was increased at the Channel Tunnel.
Some passengers stranded on a train mid-way between Paris and London reported migrants on roofs and knocking on windows as they waited for hours in the dark. A spokesperson for Eurostar said passengers hoping to travel later this morning should expect a normal service but added that two trains have been cancelled “in order to ensure the service is as robust as possible”. The latest disruption comes despite the erection last month of miles of new four-metre high, steel security barriers and razor-wire, accompanied by high-profile British government pledges to secure the route. Official sources had previously suggested that increased security last month had reduced the number of attempts to get into the Channel tunnel terminal near Calais to between 100 and 200 a night.
The figures represent a dramatic fall compared with the height of the crisis when an estimated 2,000 attempts were said to have been made on two successive nights at the end of July. The current crisis in Calais is part of a wider migrant surge into Europe from North Africa and the Middle East. The European Union is struggling to deal with the largest number of refugees on the move since the end of World War II. More than 4,000 migrants arrived in mainland Greece from the island of Lesbos overnight.
