CALAIS, France — Huddled under blankets, migrants in the Calais “Jungle” recounted on Wednesday how they fled a fire that ripped through tents and shacks in the night after the death knell had sounded for the notorious camp.
Meanwhile, fresh fires broke out on Wednesday in the camp on the second day of operations to tear down the squalid settlement in northern France, sending migrants fleeing with their meager belongings.
Huge clouds of black smoke billowed over the sprawling camp near Calais where up to 4,000 migrants remain as authorities continue to evacuate residents and dismantle their makeshift dwellings.
A French spokesman said desperate migrants had started the blaze, which occurred just hours after the authorities began to demolish the settlement on Tuesday, although camp residents denied the claim.
Siddiq, a 16-year-old Afghan who said he arrived in the camp in northern France 10 months ago, sat on the icy tarmac with two friends, sheltering under a blanket, after spending the night under a bridge.
“Our tents were burning. Someone set fire to them, though I don’t know who,” he said.
“I have seen many fires before but not like this. First there was a gas canister that exploded, boom! Like a bomb,” he said.
“Then in the middle of the night my neighbor’s tent caught fire. I ran out,” said Siddiq.
The trio queued outside a registration center where they hoped to be interviewed later to make their case for being allowed into Britain.
The fire ravaged one of the Jungle’s main alleyways, leaving an apocalyptic scene of blackened shrubs and electricity poles, broken glass and a scattering of pathetic belongings.
The only structures that remained were the metal skeletons of the avenue’s makeshift restaurants, some of the many businesses that sprang up during the Jungle’s years-old existence. Those made wood were burned to the ground.
“There were several fires overnight. Every time one fire was put out, another would erupt. There were fires all over the Jungle,” said Mahmoud Al-Saleh, a 22-year-old Syrian.
“It was clearly intentional. The firefighters came late. For a long time it was just us, migrants and volunteers, fighting the fires.”
A spokesman for the prefecture — the representative of the state — said firefighters had intervened immediately.
“The fires were apparently started deliberately. They were mainly Afghans who set fire to their tents before leaving. They say the Jungle is finished, and not a scrap should be left behind.”
At another spot in the queue by the registration office, Arman Khan, 17-year-old Afghan, stood wearing a black hooded jacket and bright orange trainers, his hands in his jeans pockets. “We had to run out in the middle of the night. I left all my things behind, I have nothing now, only the clothes on my back. I have no tent. No other clothes. — AFP
