Rail services resumed after migrants tried to get into Channel Tunnel

PanARMENIAN.Net - Around 200 migrants tried to get into the Channel Tunnel from the French side overnight, clashing with staff and police and forcing a temporary suspension of rail services, a spokesman for Eurotunnel said, according to Reuters.

Rail services resumed on Saturday, October 3’s morning but traffic was slow due to continued safety checks, the company said.

The incident was the latest in a series involving migrants who are camped around the northern French port of Calais in the hope of reaching Britain.

The migrants broke into Eurotunnel's French terminal at 00:30 local time (19:30 ET), with 120 entering the tunnel before being intercepted by French police as far as 15 kilometers inside the tunnel, the company and police said.

"Such a large group had no chance of reaching the UK, so this was clearly an organized attack aimed at drawing media attention to the desperate situation of the migrants who are stuck in Calais," Eurotunnel said in a statement.

Rail services resumed as of 02:00 ET, with passenger services operating in both directions, but were subject to some delays, Eurotunnel said.

Calais is one of the flashpoints in a much wider pan-European immigration crisis. European countries are struggling to agree on how best to tackle the huge inflows of people fleeing conflicts or poverty in the Middle East and Africa.