The only survivor of the tragedy spoke succinctly on Wednesday.

He explained that he and the three dead migrants mowed down by a train on Tuesday near Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), had taken refuge on the tracks to escape possible controls, said the prosecutor of Bayonne Jérôme Bourrier Wednesday evening.

Tuesday around 5 am, three migrants, most likely of Algerian nationality, died mown down by a TER south of Saint-Jean-de-Luz station, while they seemed to be resting on the tracks.

A fourth man with them, also Algerian, very seriously injured in the accident, was able to give, from his hospital bed, the beginnings of an explanation concerning their presence on these roads.

The group had formed a little earlier in Spain

He confirmed to investigators from the Bayonne judicial police that the group had taken the railroads to escape possible police checks.

According to this survivor, the four men had stopped to rest, fell asleep and did not see the train arriving.

However, the man was not able to give the identities of the three victims.

"The small group was formed a little earlier in Spain and they did not know each other," said the prosecutor.

Gathering of 200 people to pay tribute to the victims

This Wednesday evening, about 200 people gathered in front of the Saint-Jean-de-Luz station, at the call of local associations of aid to migrants, to pay tribute to the victims of this tragedy.

According to Amaia Fontang, president of Etorkinekin, a collective that brings together 13 groups of support for migrants in the Basque Country, interviewed Tuesday by AFP, the tragedy occurred after "a day of significant police pressure in several points of the Basque Country" , which “could explain why these migrants sought to take refuge in a place to be quiet”.

Spain is one of the main gateways to Europe for migrants and the Basque Country is one of the important crossing points, theater of tragedies as in August and May, with the death of two migrants who were trying to cross the Bidasoa border river to cross into France.

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  • Aquitaine

  • Police

  • Accident

  • Bayonne

  • Society

  • Migrants

  • Train