A migrant has died in the French port town of Calais after he was hit by a truck. An official at the local prosecutors office said he "was apparently crossing the motorway when he was hit."
The migrant man died at the side of Calais’s port ringroad at about 1:30 pm on Wednesday (May 10), reported local newspaper La Voix du Nord. The man was reported to be in his thirties and originally from Sudan.
According to the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP), rescue services were called to the scene, but their efforts to save the man failed.
The Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and trucks and cars are constantly driving through Calais on their way to and from the ports. Migrants sometimes try and jump on trucks along the roads nearest to the ports in the hope they can cross to Britain undetected.
A local NGO, the Auberge des Migrants, estimates that there are currently around 500 migrants waiting in Calais for a chance to cross the Channel towards the UK. More and more migrants are paying smugglers to transport them via small boat, but for those who can’t afford the sea route, trying to get on a truck is the alternative option left to them.
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Attempts to cross by road and rail
When InfoMigrants was last in Calais, many of the young sub-Saharan African migrants tended to approach the port roads several times a week in the hope they would "get lucky" and manage to stow away. Some of them were trying the road route until they had saved up enough money for a sea crossing, others because they had no money left.
In 2022, at least three migrants died trying to board trucks or trains in and around Calais. Five people died and four others were reported missing, presumed dead, after attempting to cross the Channel in small boats. La Voix du Nord also reported that another young man in his thirties died after being hit by a goods train. However, in this case they said investigators suspected the man may have tried to commit suicide.
Since 1999, reported La Voix du Nord, this is the 148th death of a migrant in Calais and the surrounding area.
With AFP