At least six people have died in the capsizing of a migrant boat trying to cross the English Channel from France to the United Kingdom in the early hours of this Saturday. The rescue work continues because between five and ten people are still missing, while another 55 have been rescued and treated by the emergency services, the Boulogne-sur-Mer (France) Prosecutor’s Office has indicated, which has opened an investigation.
By mid-morning, “six people had been recovered in serious condition and one of them, evacuated by helicopter to Calais hospital, was pronounced dead,” has informed the Maritime Prefecture of La Mancha and the North Sea (Premar) in a press release. It was a man of Afghan origin between 25 and 30 years old. The death of the other five fatalities, picked up by a lifeboat of the French National Maritime Rescue Society (SNSM), was certified when the ship carrying them docked in the port of Calais.
“My thoughts are with the victims”, wrote the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, on the social network X (formerly Twitter), praising “the commitment of the rescue teams mobilized”. Borne added that the Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs, Hervé Berville, will travel to Calais.
On the French side, three ships, a helicopter and a plane are participating in the search to provide the best possible coverage of the area. Two other British ships are also taking part in the rescue operations.
The boat sank off Sangatte, in the Pas de Calais, on the north coast of France, “around 2:00 a.m.,” according to the Prosecutor’s Office. The first rescued to reach land have been 39 of those affected and have already disembarked from the patrol boat Cormorant of the French Navy in the port of Calais. The other survivors have been helped by the British coast guard.
Meanwhile, numerous fire trucks and police forces have moved to the port of Calais, where civil protection tents have also been set up to assist the survivors.
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A spokesman for the British coastguard has stated that they are “assisting the French authorities” in the rescue operation.
Since Wednesday night, more migrant boats have been detected trying to cross the English Channel from the north coast of France irregularly, since the weather conditions are favourable. In fact, on the night from Thursday to Friday, Premar reported the rescue of 116 people, including children, from three different boats.
For its part, the British Home Office reported that 755 migrants had been sighted on Thursday making the dangerous journey to the coast, a daily record since the beginning of the year.
According to a count carried out by Agence France Presse with official British figures, more than 100,000 people have crossed the English Channel illegally in small boats since 2018. Of these, 84,500 tried to cross it in 2022, of which 44,000 succeeded, according to data from the European Commission. The closure of the port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel terminal has made the illegal smuggling of people by truck almost impossible, so smugglers are opting for the sea route.
One of the busiest in the world, the Strait of Pas de Calais has been the scene of several tragedies in recent years, but that has not dampened the determination of migrants to embark on the dangerous journey. In 2022, five died at sea and four were reported missing while trying to cross into the UK. The deadliest shipwreck occurred in November 2021, when at least 27 people, ranging in age from 7 to 46, were killed when their vessel sank. This tragedy raised tensions between Paris and London, which agreed to intensify their fight against this migratory traffic.
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