Thirteen migrants and refugees have died since June 26 in the Eurotunnel zone and their deaths are leaving a legacy on France.
The country’s biggest worker’s union, CGT has written an emotional open letter to Eurotunnel, seen by AFP on behalf of train drivers.
"Today we are afraid. Afraid to start, afraid to finish, afraid to drive, afraid to hit, crush, to electrocute, to reduce to a pulp a wretched, disinherited, ill-fated, damned of the earth."
"Our hearts are no longer in the job. We do not want to, and above all cannot, continue to do our job in such conditions of stress, anxiety and stomach-clenching fear."
In a plea to their bosses, the drivers ask how much longer they must be "haunted during our working hours, our rest, by these surreal images".
#eurotunnel train hit trespasser on tracks early this morning. #calais mayor needs to abide by #eu rules and stop ruining drivers lives.
— Pollee #LeaveEU (@polleetickle) September 30, 2015
A teenage boy was recently killed by a freight train near the Channel Tunnel entrance in Calais as he tried to cross the tracks. Another man was found dead on the roof of a train after being electrocuted, they are just two of the 13 to die since June.
A Syrian #refugee died at the #Eurotunnel, 13 #migrant deaths on the #calais border since June. #MigrantLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/ULX1dTY1SZ
— Calais Solidarity (@calaisolidarity) September 19, 2015
The refugees, migrants and asylum seekers stuck in Europe don’t have a voice, a name, they are just numbers reported in the media, causing a crisis in Europe on an unprecedented scale.
But they are not just numbers, they have lives and their deaths are leaving a traumatic legacy on people living and working in Europe.
Eurotunnel say around 150 attempts are made by migrants to enter the tunnel every night. A spokesman for the company said he "understands the emotion described", in response to the letter.
