International News

CALAIS, France, (APP/AFP) – They fled hardship
and war only to find misery and squalor, but migrants who met a gruesome end in northern France hoping to reach England are finally getting a touch of dignity in death.
More than 30 people have perished since June last year in and around
the vast, infamous camp known as the “Jungle” in northern French port of Calais, near the Channel Tunnel.
The latest was a Pakistani man, only 24, hit by a car on the ring
road around Calais on May 9.
Others have been struck by a train, drowned or electrocuted, some in
horrific circumstances, dragged along tracks after a desperate, failed bid to stow away on cross-Channel transport.
To spare them a nameless, forgotten fate, rights workers and medical
personnel act as go-betweens to put the police, hospital or funeral home in
contact with family or other migrants who came to know the victim.
“Often, police send me photographs, when they’re fit to be seen,
which I print out. They help me find people in the ‘Jungle’ who knew the victim to make a positive identification and prepare the rest,” said Lou, a full-time psychologist with the medical charity Medecins du Monde who gave only her first name.