BBC News
A strike has forced the suspension of services through the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France, as hundreds of migrants try to board UK-bound lorries amid the chaos.
Eurotunnel, which manages the crossing, said "protesters" had entered the terminal and started a fire. Migrants have been trying to board lorries caught in slow-moving traffic.
About 3,000 migrants are estimated to be living rough around Calais, waiting for a chance to cross the channel.
Lorry drivers have been advised to make sure all their doors are padlocked, to stick with other drivers and not to stop within about 60 miles (100km) of the port.
Workers from the MyFerryLink company had blockaded the port of Calais in a protest over job cuts earlier on Tuesday.
The strike is preventing ships leaving or entering the port, forcing drivers to use the Eurotunnel service instead and causing long queues on the roads into Calais.
Later on Tuesday, the tunnel itself was shut after striking workers gained access to the tracks and caused a fire, Eurotunnel said.
It said it hoped to be able to resume its shuttle services for vehicles later in the evening.
The Eurostar train company, which also uses the tunnel, said "trains will not be able to run for the rest of the day".
'Miles of traffic'
Eurotunnel said the number of migrants in the Calais area was the "highest ever".
Helicopter footage showed large groups gathered by the side of the road, some chasing and boarding a moving lorry from behind.
Other migrants were seen talking openly with drivers, while one group was chased away from a lorry by a driver who saw them attempting to break in.
One man ran down the middle of the motorway to close the door behind others who had jumped aboard.
James Kleinfeld, an eyewitness, told the BBC he had seen dozens of migrants on the side of the road.
"We counted around 50 people that we saw hanging around the junction after the exit from the Channel Tunnel train station," he said.
"I cross quite often but I've never seen any [migrants] hanging around that part. They are on the motorway, they are on the side of the motorway. In the direction of the UK there is miles and miles of traffic."
According to the Home Office, about 19,000 attempts to cross the Channel have been prevented in 2015, more than double the number during the same period last year.
'Worse than ever'
The deputy mayor of Calais, Philippe Mignonet, told the BBC that the UK government was to blame for the number of migrants attempting to cross.
"We will block the port - as simple as that. We'll arrange to block the tunnel if nothing is done," Mr Mignonet said.
Donald Armour, international manager at the UK Freight Transport Association (FTA), said the situation was "definitely worse than it has ever been".
"There is a lot of fighting between the migrants who all want to be on the best part of the road to get on to the lorries," he said.
"We haven't had a fatality but it's not good."
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