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From: 'Gregg Ukaegbu' gukaegbu@comcast.net [NIgerianWorldForum] <NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 7 August 2015 at 19:57
Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] With Nothing left to lose, Man "walks under the Sea" to London
To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
Sudanese Migrant Tries to Reach England by Walking Length of Channel Tunnel
By DAN BILEFSKYAUG. 7, 2015
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A migrant jumped a fence in an attempt to access the Channel Tunnel in Calais, France, this week. Credit Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press
LONDON — For one African migrant, there was nothing left to lose.
The migrant, Abdul Rahman Haroun, 40, risked his life this week by climbing four fences, evading around 400 security cameras and international search teams, and walking about 30 miles underground in the darkness of the Channel Tunnel in an effort to reach England from near Calais, France. He dodged trains traveling to London from Paris as they hurtled by at up to 100 miles per hour.
He became on Tuesday what the authorities said was the first migrant to walk nearly the entire length of the Channel Tunnel. Officials at Eurotunnel, which operates the crossing, said that Mr. Haroun had been close to the other side of the tunnel, in Folkestone, England, when he was arrested.
Mr. Haroun, who news reports said is Sudanese and has no fixed address, was charged this week with obstructing engines or carriages on a railway under the Malicious Damage Act of 1861. He is expected to appear at Canterbury Crown Court on Aug. 24.
Britain and France are grappling with a spiraling migration crisis in which thousands of desperate migrants have tried to cross the channel in recent weeks by cutting through fences and stowing away in trucks or other vehicles. On Friday, the United Nations called on France to draw up a "civil emergency" plan to accommodate the thousands of people living in makeshift camps in Calais.
Romain Dufour, a spokesman for Eurotunnel, said by telephone on Friday that the company was investigating how Mr. Haroun had entered the tunnel undetected, despite heightened security.
"It is illegal and very dangerous to attempt to enter the tunnel, and a person can be seriously injured or killed," Mr. Dufour said. "Mr. Haroun could now face prison, and he will likely not be able to get asylum. He has lost everything."
Mr. Dufour said that Mr. Haroun had left Calais around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
An alert had been put in place overnight after hundreds of migrants tried to enter the Eurotunnel terminal, Mr. Dufour said, but Mr. Haroun was nevertheless able to make his way toward England.
Three tunnels cross the channel: two that are used by trains, and a smaller service tunnel. Mr. Haroun used the southern rail crossing, Eurotunnel said.
With security personnel on alert, Mr. Dufour said that traffic was halted in a roughly 10-mile stretch of the tunnel, and that inspectors searched the tunnel and sealed the entrance on the French side.
Police officers scoured the area for intruders, leading to two-hour delays for some passengers. A "test" train was also sent at a slow speed to inspect the tunnel, he said.
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The French police on patrol Thursday outside the Channel Tunnel. Britain and France are grappling with a spiraling migration crisis in which thousands of desperate migrants have tried to cross the Channel in recent weeks. Credit Juan Medina/Reuters
After hours of searching, British authorities said Mr. Haroun was finally caught in the southern Channel Tunnel and arrested near Folkestone, around 6:15 p.m., nearly 10 hours after beginning his journey.
The journey made headlines on both sides of the channel, illustrating how a determined migrant could evade the authorities in what the daily newspaper Nord Littoral described as a dangerous "game of cat and mouse."
The newspaper noted that Mr. Haroun had risked his life in a "mad race." Mr. Dufour said Eurotunnel had been dealing recently with nearly 1,000 attempts a day by migrants trying to get to England by various means, although he said the number appeared to be decreasing in recent days.
An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 migrants are housed in a camp near Calais. Britain last year received an estimated 25,000 asylum applications, compared with about 175,000 in Germany, according to the United Nations.
The logjam caused by migrants trying to cross the Channel is costing the British economy as much as $390 million a day, according to some estimates.
Many of the migrants in Calais come from conflict-ridden countries in the Middle East and Africa and have endured perilous journeys across the Mediterranean, often abetted by human traffickers.
The migrants say Britain is an attractive destination because they speak English, and because they believe the country offers better employment prospects than elsewhere in Europe.
Tuesday was not the first time a migrant had managed to get inside the tunnel. In June 2012, a migrant succeeded in entering the same southern tunnel that Mr. Haroun entered, but he was arrested after getting stuck in a storeroom.
According to Eurotunnel, the Channel Tunnel has the longest undersea section of any tunnel in the world.
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