POSTED 01 SEPT 08
French police are hunting for a man who raped a Canadian student at a camp near Calais used by illegal immigrants.
Police said the 31-year-old woman, who has spent most of her life in the UK, was attacked while photographing the site called "the jungle" on Tuesday.
The camp is used by migrants waiting to cross the Channel to Britain.
Vice-prosecutor Philippe Muller told a press conference that the rape had been committed "by an individual who is currently being searched for".
He added: "The Pas-de-Calais Victim Support Association has been called upon to provide help and support for the victim."
Welfare centre plan
The camp lies in woodland near the Calais ferry terminal.
It is made up of shelters constructed from plastic sheets and camp-fires built by the migrants.
The press conference was told that investigators have fingerprints and DNA samples from the suspect.
They believe he came from the Middle East, and fear he may have left the area - either for the UK, Belgium or Holland.
An identikit portrait has been sent to Interpol as well as to French ports and the British authorities, but has not been made public.Police said that they had questioned about 100 men since Wednesday, but that none were being held.
A police spokesman said: "You have to be very careful when entering these camps.
"THe people there, mostly men, have an illegal status, they have no job and no home.
"'The jungle' is a dangerous place and it's not safe to go there."
Monique Delannoy, from the Belle Etoile charity which provides meals to the migrants, told the AFP news agency that no aid workers would have been on site after 1800 local time (1700 BST).
Ms Delannoy said her group had counted 450 migrants - Afghans, Kurds, Iranians and Africans - in and around the forest in mid-August, all but 30 of them men.
In 2002, Sangatte refugee camp near Calais was closed in a bid to stem the flow of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel into the UK.
Charities and officials want to create a welfare centre for the migrants who continue to sleep rough in the port town.
