A teenage refugee has been killed trying to cross the Channel Tunnel into Britain, officials said.
The boy, who was between 15 and 17 years old and believed to be from Eritrea or Sudan in East Africa, was killed by a freight train as he tried to cross the tracks.
He was found unconscious by the side of the railway and declared dead at the scene on Wednesday night.
He is believed to be the 12th person killed in or around the Channel Tunnel entrance in Calais since the refugee crisis erupted earlier this year.
A spokesman for the Pas de Calais Prefecture, the local administration, said: “At around 2am a freight shuttle struck a migrant who was crossing the tracks on the site of the Channel Tunnel.
“When emergency services arrived they found the migrant dead. He was a minor, aged between 15 and 17, and could be Eritrean or Sudanese.
“An investigation is under way.”
A Eurotunnel spokesman said: “This is a regrettable incident, a very sad incident. But unfortunately it does demonstrate again the risks that are associated with trying to cross to the UK illegally.”
According to La Voix du Nord newspaper, the boy is the 12th person to have died in or around the Channel Tunnel in France since June.
Earlier this month a man, believed to be Syrian, was electrocuted as he tried to climb aboard a shuttle train, while others have been crushed by lorries or killed falling from trains.
Of these 12, seven were from East Africa, two were from Pakistan and one was from Syria. The nationalities of the other two are not known.
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