THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SHIHAB RATTANSI, CNN ANCHOR: The company that manages the EuroTunnel has asked a French court to shut down a refugee camp in its vicinity. The company officials say the camp is fueling an increase in the number of illegal immigrants who are using the tunnel as a pipeline into Britain. Britain's ITN has more from the refugee camp in Calais, France.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The asylum seekers are coming by boat, clambering over the rocks of Calais. And they're coming by train, at least 3,000 reaching the U.K. in the first six months of this year, six times the whole of last year's total.
And EuroTunnel has had enough. Last week, it sought a judicial review of home office plans to fine the company 2,000 pounds for each illegal immigrant, and today the company appealed to a French court for the closure of this, the refugee camp at Sangatte from where asylum seekers tried to reach Britain.
The camp was opened by the French authorities two years ago, though ironically it lies on EuroTunnel's land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You pay a lot of money, about $14,000, because I tried to go to England. This is my first choice and my first country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Sangatte camp is just a mile and a half from the EuroTunnel terminal in Coquelles, outside Calais. It takes just half an hour for asylum seekers to walk from the camp to the terminal. Eighteen thousand five hundred people have been caught by EuroTunnel in the first six months of this year, and increased security has cost the company three million pounds. And according to EuroTunnel, up to 15 million pounds of business, mainly from the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) industry, has been lost because of disrupted train services.
GEOFF DOSSETIER, FREIGHT TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: And the location of the Red Cross camp at Sangatte is critical, it's close to Coquelles and the EuroTunnel terminal, it's close to the port of Calais. Clearly, the only reason why illegal immigrants are in the territory there in northern France is to springboard to the U.K., the camp is there for something of a departure lounge for people who are looking to get into the U.K. illegally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four people have been killed this year and around 15 badly injured attempting to board trains illegally. Over 200 CCTV cameras have failed to deter them, and many stowaways simply return to Sangatte for the night if they fail to board a train the first time around.
But asylum experts say closing the camp is a short-term solution at best.
CLAUDE MORAES, ASYLUM ISSUES CAMPAIGNER: Closing down the camp may provide some short-term results, in terms of some of the desperate asylum seekers there who are getting on the carriers. It has to be a Europe-wide solution, otherwise you're going to get very difficult pressure points. The channel is this pressure point we're looking at today. There are other pressure points around Europe, and people are dying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: French law currently makes forceable removal from France difficult, and if Sangatte closes, do we really think that will stop Britain from being seen as a haven for asylum seekers?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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