London - Four men, believed to be illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, were stopped from a potentially dangerous attempt to reach Britain by walking through the Channel Tunnel used for Eurostar train services between Britain and France, Eurotunnel said Friday. The men evaded security on the French side, near Calais, before being spotted by a train driver and on a camera system as they walked along the 51-kilometre tunnel early on Wednesday morning.
Alarms were triggered and the men, all believed to be Afghans in their 20s, were intercepted a few kilometres into the tunnel before being handed over to French frontier police.
Eurotunnel spokesman John Keefe said Friday that traffic was stopped for three hours in one tunnel but the incident did not affect the overall running of the system.
"The men were charged with a variety of offences including breaking into the secure zone. The incident did not stop the running of the tunnel and this is an extremely rare occurrence," he said.
However, such incidents happened regularly at the height of an illegal immigration crisis some seven years ago, before the French authorities closed the Sangatte refugee camp near Calais.
