Evacuation of Calais' Jungle camp comes to an end

By Rahmi Gunduz and Fatma Esma Arslan

CALAIS, France (AA) - The evacuation of Calais’ “Jungle” camp has come to an end, said Pas-de-Calais prefect Fabienne Buccio on Wednesday.

Buccio told a news conference that the evacuation of migrants, which started on Monday, had ended.

Stating that the evacuation went quicker than expected, Buccio remarked, "It's the end of the Jungle. Our mission is over. There are no more migrants in the camp".

A group of asylum-seekers set fire to the camp on day three of the operation, before it was extinguished by fire-fighters.

The asylum-seekers who left the camp are being sent to asylum centers in France by bus after completing their registration procedures.

An official who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media previously said at least 4,014 people had been transferred to refugee centers on Tuesday.

Around 2,318 migrants left the camp Monday, according to Le Figaro daily, citing Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

Asylum-seekers in the camp were hoping to cross the English Channel and reach the U.K. but the British government said it was funding a new four-meter-high barrier that it hoped would stop them from trying.

Construction began last month on the concrete wall, set to extend for a kilometer alongside the motorway to the port of Calais, where ferries carrying trucks depart day and night for the U.K.

President Francois Hollande had pledged to demolish the camp, which had been home to thousands of migrants, before the end of 2016.