Truck driver killed after migrants block road near Calais

PARIS – French authorities say a truck driver was killed in a highway accident prompted by a roadblock installed by migrants trying to board trucks travelling across to Britain.

The administration for the Pas-de-Calais region said in a statement that nine Eritrean migrants have been detained.

It says that migrants placed tree trunks on the A16 highway leading to Calais early Tuesday, forcing three large trucks to stop. It said a smaller truck then crashed into one of those trucks and caught on fire. The driver’s identity is unclear.

Such roadblocks have caused accidents in the past but this is the first time they have been linked to a death, according to an official with the regional administration who was not authorized to be publicly named.