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Calais 'Jungle' camp population soars

August 19, 2016

The number of migrants at a camp in the French port city of Calais has jumped to nearly 7,000. Aid agencies say the increase is due to new arrivals crossing the Mediterranean to southern Europe.

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Flüchtlingscamps "Dschungel" in Calais
Image: DW/H.T.Torode

Local authorities in Calais said Friday there were 6,901 migrants at a camp known as "the Jungle," the largest count since migrants started settling there 16 months ago.

The figure is 2,415 higher than a tally in June. Two aid agencies that work at the camp have put the number of migrants at 9,106.

Aid agencies believe the spike in migrants at the camp is due to a swelling number of Mediterranean crossings due to better summer weather.

Earlier this year authorities cleared a section of the camp in a bid to persuade migrants to move to other camps in northern France or find another place to stay.

Migrants gather in Calais in hopes of being smuggled into the United Kingdom through the Channel tunnel or on ferries.

cw/se (AFP, AP)

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