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Hundreds of migrants were escorted away by police from the Eurotunnel’s freight terminal near Calais last night – the third night of large-scale attempts to storm the area.
The company said 2,000 migrants attempted to get to the tunnel terminal on Monday and 1,500 tried on Tuesday.
An extra 120 French police were sent to the terminal on Wednesday, with MPs urging the UK government to do more to help ease the crisis.
Motorists using the tunnel’s rail shuttle have seen delays in both the UK and France, while disruption to freight traffic is set to last all week.
Eurotunnel said it had blocked 37,000 migrants trying to make their way to the UK since the start of the year and that nine people have died in the past month.
A Eurotunnel spokesman told the BBC: “It is a nightly assault by hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants who are trying to get to the UK by any means possible.
“They’re coming through the fences, trying to get to the freight terminal, they’re trying to get onto trucks or trains that would eventually carry them to the UK.”
Home secretary Theresa May, speaking after a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday, 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.”