As night fell on the migrant camp in Calais on Wednesday, Muslim Hussain was packing his possessions into his rucksack in preparation for his nightly quest to get on a train or lorry bound for the UK. But for the first time since he arrived in the “jungle” three months ago, the 23-year-old from Pakistan was about to make the attempt without his cousin, Sadiq.
“He died two nights ago,” said Hussain quietly as he got ready to leave his makeshift shelter in the camp that is now home to more than 3,000 people. “We were together and he tried to hold on to a handle on a moving train. He managed it for a little while, but couldn’t keep hold and fell.”
Hussain said his cousin suffered fatal serious head and chest injuries at about 4am on 27 July. “I don’t know what to do. It is so sad for him ... We left together to try and find a better life – now I am here in this place by myself.”
Sadiq’s death is one of at least eight in the past two months as thousands of people who have fled war and poverty beyond’s Europe’s borders take ever greater risks to get to the UK. On Wednesday French police confirmed the death of a Sudanese man in his 20s, but migrants say many more fatalities go unpublicised.
At a rudimentary medical centre on the site, volunteers said they were struggling to cope with the influx of people seriously injured attempting to cross to the UK. “It’s definitely worse than before; yesterday half the injuries we saw were from people falling off trains and lorries,” said Chloe Lorieux, from Médecins du Monde. “The more difficult it gets, the more risks people are taking, and the more dispirited everyone in the camp gets.”
In the past few nights Eurotunnel has said the situation at the terminal outside Calais has become unmanageable as hundreds of migrants have made 3,500 attempts to break into the compound and on to lorries and trains bound for the UK. UK politicians have reacted by promising increased funding to secure the terminal with more surveillance and extra fencing.
But as darkness fell in Calais on Wednesday and a steady stream of people – including women and young children – set out from the “jungle” on the two hour walk to the Eurotunnel terminal, it appeared they were still some way from delivering on that promise. Scores of people could be seen squeezing through a hole in the fence lining the railway tracks leading towards the terminal. A police car drove past but did not stop.
Further up the tracks, where the fence is higher and topped with barbed wire, crowds of migrants – many of whom said they were fleeing persecution in Eritrea or Sudan – gathered in groups along the perimeter of the fence in a tense standoff with police.
“There are too many police and too many journalists tonight,” said Ali, 18, from Sudan, who has been in Calais for two months. “Last night many people got in, but it is getting more and more difficult.”
Some people did make it through into the terminal, but were caught by security guards and handed to the police. Others were surrounded by officers with dogs and batons and moved on.
A group of teenagers from Eritrea said they had been in Calais for three weeks and there seemed to be more police every night. “We are tired doing this every night when we just get one meal a day, but we can’t stay here,” said Amil, 17. “This is no place to live, but we can’t go back. It is difficult.”
Leaving the camp by himself for the first time, Hussain agreed he had little choice but to carry on his quest to get to the UK. “It is becoming very dangerous, but I will keep trying because there is no life for me here in this. This is not good even for animals.”
