A Dozen Migrants Die in a Shipwreck in the English Channel
Migrant rescued after shipwreck in the English Channel, Sept. 3, 2024. Photo: X/ @XNews_France
September 3, 2024 Hour: 12:14 pm
French repressive policies are ineffective and repeatedly lead to incidents and tragedies, said activist Kwantes.
On Tuesday, France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed that twelve migrants died when the boat they were trying to use to cross the English Channel from France to the United Kingdom capsized.
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Two other people are missing, and several more were injured, he said, adding that all state services are mobilized to find the missing and assist the victims. This incident took place in the Boulonnais area, in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.
The Maritime Prefecture of the English Channel and the North Sea said that ten naval and aerial units were dispatched after receiving an alert about a migrant boat in distress.
“More than fifty people were rescued. Several of them required urgent medical assistance,” authorities said, adding that search and rescue operations are ongoing and that an emergency medical post has been set up in Boulogne-sur-Mer to care for the victims.
This Boulonnais incident is the deadliest so far this year among migrants attempting to reach British shores from France by sea. The English Channel is one of the busiest maritime sectors in the world, with about 600 commercial ships passing through daily. The area often has difficult weather conditions, with strong winds that make it especially dangerous, even when the waters appear calm.
Charlotte Kwantes, a member of the migrant aid association Utopia 56, denounced French repressive policies are “completely ineffective and repeatedly cause incidents and tragedies” as deaths have been recorded in the English Channel almost every week in the last quarter, France 24 reported.
Between July 12 and 19, six migrants died as a result of the sinking of three overloaded boats. Then, on August 11, two migrants died in another shipwreck off the coast of Calais. “Before Tuesday’s shipwreck, 25 people have lost their lives on these crossings since the beginning of the year, far exceeding the figure set at 12 deaths for the year 2023,” it added.
Last year, 29,437 people arrived on British soil after crossing the channel irregularly, 36 percent fewer than the record of 45,774 in 2022, according to official British figures.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE