At least five migrants, including a child, have died after their dinghy capsized in an attempt to cross the English Channel, French emergency services said on Tuesday.
Around 100 migrants packed onto several overloaded dinghies were at the centre of the alert, according to the French sea rescue service SNSM.
Panic broke out on board one of the boats and a four-year-old girl was crushed to death by the other passengers, it reported.
The small boats got into trouble after trying to cross the Channel near the town of Wimereux, north of Boulogne, according to local newspaper La Voix du Nord, with at least one said to have capsized.
The French coast guard told Reuters that police were operating at a beach, adding that there were several bodies.
The reported deaths came hours after Parliament finally passed into law Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill, paving the way for the first deportation flights aimed at deterring the crossings.
All available boats in the area were immediately dispatched to help rescue the migrants and the SNSM speedboat the Président Jacques Lebrun brought in the injured.
Rescue operations are continuing, with major resources deployed and associations helping the migrants.
Although the weather was calm, conditions remained difficult, with an air temperature of zero degrees Celsius early on Tuesday morning and a water temperature of no more than 10C.
French maritime authorities for the Channel and the North Sea told The Telegraph: “We are aware of an operation under way and unconscious people have been brought to shore but we are missing sufficient information to provide more details for now.”
Several dozen boats carrying migrants are reported to have left beaches around Calais at 3am as people smugglers exploited the favourable weather conditions and relative calm of the sea.
Emergency services, police and coastguards from Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk were sent to the scene. Aircraft operated by the EU border force Frontex were seen flying over the area, while several reconnaissance drones were sent offshore to monitor the boats still afloat.
During the night, French police officers had intercepted two boats, two fuel cans, two engines and life jackets before they could be used to put migrants to sea.
James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said: “These tragedies have to stop. I will not accept a status quo which costs so many lives.
“This Government is doing everything we can to end this trade, stop the boats and ultimately break the business model of the evil people smuggling gangs, so they no longer put lives at risk.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “This is another devastating human tragedy that could and should have been avoided – and for it to happen just hours after the Government’s Rwanda Bill became law makes it all the more tragic.
“The only sustainable way to reduce dangerous journeys across the world’s busiest shipping lane is for the Government to reduce the need for desperate people to take desperate actions.
“Instead of hostile, headline-grabbing legislation, we need to see safe routes for those fleeing conflict and persecution, including more options for family reunion, refugee visas, and cooperation with our European neighbours. We don’t need costly and unworkable laws – we need a fair and humane process that upholds the right to asylum, ensuring refugees are treated with dignity and respect.”
On Monday, Home Office figures showed the number of migrants arriving by small boats across the Channel had increased by 24 per cent to 6,265 in the first four months of this year, compared with 5,049 in the same period in 2023.
The latest incident comes six weeks after a seven-year-old girl drowned in the Aa canal at Watten, which flows into the North Sea, while in a small boat with 15 other migrants.
At the end of February, a 22-year-old Turkish man died when he fell from his boat off the coast of Calais. An Eritrean was indicted and detained on Saturday in connection with this case.
On the night of Jan 13, five migrants, including a 14-year-old Syrian teenager, died at Wimereux as they tried to reach a boat already at sea in 9C water.
Twelve migrants lost their lives in 2023 trying to cross the English Channel, according to the Préfecture maritime de la Manche et de la Mer du Nord.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiU2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9uZXdzLzIwMjQvMDQvMjMvbWlncmFudHMtZm91bmQtZGVhZC1pbi1lbmdsaXNoLWNoYW5uZWwv0gEA?oc=5
2024-04-23 10:31:00Z
CBMiU2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9uZXdzLzIwMjQvMDQvMjMvbWlncmFudHMtZm91bmQtZGVhZC1pbi1lbmdsaXNoLWNoYW5uZWwv0gEA
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar