Migrants wait in "Jungle" camp before dangerous trek
Europe's staggering refugee crisis continues as thousands of people escaping war and poverty are pouring into Europe from Africa and the Middle East.
Many of the migrants end up in the French city of Calais, where they hope the Channel Tunnel will take them to a better life in England following a long, dangerous journey, CBS News' Clarissa Ward reports.
As soon as the sun sets in Calais, the migrants come out. Their goal is to get to Great Britain, and they are willing to take great risks to achieve it. They cut through fences and climb onto trucks, sometimes even in broad daylight. So far this summer at least 10 of them have died trying to make that journey.
French police are struggling to cope with the growing tide of migrants. Nearly 3,000 of them are squatting in a makeshift camp known as "The Jungle," and it's not hard to see why it's called that.
The camp looks like it could be in Somalia or Sudan, but it is, in fact, in France.
Thirty-six-year-old Eyob fled the dictatorship of Eritrea to get to Europe. The camp, and a single tent shared with three other people, is now his home.
His feet are injured from jumping off a wall to escape the police, but every night he walks 10 miles to try to his luck again.
"First you have to jump the fences, then, the second thing, you have to hide from the polices, and if you are lucky, get inside the train," he said.
Eyob and his friends have only been in Calais one week, but others have been trying for much longer.
"You walk around you feel like you're in the middle of Africa, completely; you cannot believe that you're in Europe. Absolutely not," Maya Konforti said.
She works with a group called L'Auberge Des Migrants that is trying to improve the miserable conditions in which the migrants are living.
French authorities said that they have blocked an estimated 37,000 crossings this year, but all the people at "The Jungle" camp say that they will keep trying until they make it. There are more of them arriving there every day.
