Drones Deployed to Eurotunnel In Fear of Migrants Surge

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Drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras are being deployed on the French side of the Channel Tunnel to track asylum seekers attempting to cross to the UK.

Eurotunnel said the measure had been under consideration since the refugee crisis intensified last year but the deployment today comes amid speculation that there could be a renewed rush by migrants living in Calais following the vote for a Brexit.

The company, which operates the 30-mile tunnel between Britain and France, demonstrated two drones in rain and high winds.

A spokesperson for Eurotunnel told The Independent they will be deployed to respond to alerts on the railway tracks where asylum seekers have been hit by trains and electrocuted attempting to reach England.

The surveillance drones will be unable to go into the tunnel itself but will work in the 18 mile secure zone surrounding its entrance in France.

“We already have 500 other cameras and fences with motion sensors, as well as additional security guards of our own and the gendarmerie, and if any of those other security measures alert that that there is a presence we will send up the drones to over-fly the area and use either their ordinary or thermal imaging cameras,” said a company spokesperson.

Jacques Gounon, the firm’s chief executive and chairman, warned that the vote for a Brexit gave migrants a “clear signal” that the Anglo-French border would become “a huge wall, similar to the Berlin Wall, almost impossible to overcome”.

“This could generate an additional new migrant pressure, in order for such people, desperately, to reach the UK before Brexit is enforced.”