Three illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were in hospital last night - one of them seriously ill in intensive care - after the discovery of 13 stowaways sparked a major security incident at the Channel Tunnel.
Two of the three injured men, who suffered broken limbs, were said to be in a comfortable condition. However, the third man suffered severe head injuries, apparently having thrown himself off a freight train as it arrived in Britain from France yesterday morning.
Following the horrifying deaths of 58 Chinese migrants in a container last June, this latest incident again underlined the desperate risks asylum-seekers are prepared to take in fleeing their countries of origin.
The first group of 10 stowaways were spotted at around 3 a.m. by staff at Dollan Moor, a freight marshalling area near Folkestone, Kent. They were detained and handed over to the immigration services at Dover.
Two had suffered broken limbs, apparently as a result of climbing fences in the area. But it was some five hours later before staff found another man lying on the line about three quarters of a mile from the tunnel entrance.
Ambulance staff administered treatment at the scene - at which two other men were arrested while trying to scramble over perimeter fencing - before taking the injured man to hospital, where his condition was described as "poorly but stable".
The immigration service said the group included a 17-year-old Romanian girl and a Romanian man aged 21, who has claimed asylum. Both are being held at a detention centre in Dover. A police spokeswoman said: "It is unclear if these two groups had jumped from moving trains but it certainly seems likely that they had come from France on the freight trains as the area they were found in is fairly secure."
As the focus last night fell on security arrangements at the French end of the channel link, the North Thanet MP, Mr Roger Gale - who has been campaigning for stricter immigration controls - said: "I believe this unhappy series of incidents highlights both the danger to clandestine travellers, and the relative ease with which many illegal immigrants can board freight transport anywhere in Europe."
The British government hopes to conclude an agreement with freight operators by the end of the year. But the managing director of Eurotunnel, Mr Bill Dix, disagreed that stricter controls should be automatically introduced. While declining to discuss security matters in detail, Mr Dix said: "I can confirm that Eurotunnel and the French authorities have very stringent security procedures in place, and they are reviewed very regularly between us."
Mr Dix said the outcome of their investigation into this incident would obviously be put to the French authorities, as would the results of the police investigation.
Eurotunnel services were running as normal last night, after delays of several hours hit English football fans travelling to Paris for today's friendly match against the World and European champions.
Mr Dix said: "We gradually got through what was a relatively short backlog after about two hours. It sounds quite a lot for those people involved in it, but compared to the last few days that's been quite good."