A man thought to be of African origin died when he was hit by a goods train on Sunday morning in Calais, northeast France. He is the fifth migrant to have died in accidents involving trains or lorries in recent months.
A man believed to be of African origin was hit by a goods train on Sunday morning (May 29) in Calais, according to the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor's office. The victim, who was found "lying on the track and possibly in a sleeping bag," died instantly. Early indications suggest that it may have been a suicide or that the man was disorientated as a result of being extremely intoxicated.
Emergency services were "called at 6:02 a.m. when a male pedestrian of indeterminate age was hit by a freight train at Chemin Castre," in the southeast of Calais, authorities in Pas de Calais said.
According to the deputy prosecutor, Patrick Leleu, it is "possible that he got up" at the last moment, "without the driver having had any time to avoid hitting him."
String of similar cases
It is not the first time a migrant has been hit by a train in the region. On February 28, a 25-year-old Sudanese man died the same way when he was walking alongside a railway track in Marck, a town neighboring Calais.
On November 4 of last year, a similar incident happened just a few hundred meters away. A train hit a group of four people who were walking along the track between Dunkirk and Calais. One person died and three others were injured.
On January 15, an 18-year-old Sudanese man died, also in Marck, when he was crushed by a truck onto which he had been trying to climb.
One month earlier, a 16-year-old boy, also from Sudan, died in the same location when he fell from a truck in the Transmarck business park.
On May 11, an Eritrean migrant was found dead in a trailer in a parking lot in the Transmarck business park. He is thought to have killed himself.
Read more: Eritrean migrant found dead in Calais
There have also been further deaths of migrants attempting the dangerous Channel crossing to the United Kingdom in small boats.
The maritime prefecture of la Manche and mer du Nord says that last year, 31 people died and four went missing during Channel crossings. One death has been recorded in the Channel so far this year.
These accidents, combined with deplorable living conditions and "police harassment" – currently in the region expulsions of migrants from temporary camps on and near the French coast take place every 36 to 48 hours – is leading to a serious deterioration in the migrants' mental health. More recently, the announcement of the outsourcing of asylum claims from the UK to Rwanda has compounded their anxiety. "Many of them are psychologically distressed," Pauline Joyau from the NGO Utopia 56 told InfoMigrants a few weeks ago. "But as with everything else, there is not enough support."
Read more: France: How to ask for asylum in Calais
Translated and adapted from French by Marion MacGregor.