A boat trying to reach the United Kingdom via the English Channel from the French coast sank on Tuesday, leaving at least 12 migrants dead. An estimated 70 people were on board the precarious boat, two of whom are still missing and more than a dozen are seriously injured, French emergency services reported. The shipwreck occurred near Boulogne-sur-Mer, as explained by the resigning Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, on X (formerly known as Twitter). “All state services are mobilised to find the missing and assist the victims. I am addressing elected officials and rescue teams,” he added.
A state-chartered ship, the Minck, had spotted the boat when it was already in trouble. It was carrying more than 60 people on board. The Minck was able to come to its aid as soon as it broke down, Lieutenant General Etienne Baggio told Agence France-Presse. Important rescue and security teams were then sent near the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. According to the maritime prefecture, a rescue operation is underway for some 50 victims, some of whom require medical attention, and medical teams have been sent to the deployed ships.
The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with some 600 commercial vessels sailing daily, in an area where weather conditions are often difficult, with strong winds making it particularly dangerous even when the waters are apparently calm. At the time, the water temperature was around 20 degrees Celsius. This incident is the deadliest so far this year on this route, used by migrants trying to reach the British coast by sea from France.
Last year, a total of 29,437 people reached British soil after crossing the Channel illegally, 36% less than the record for 2022 (45,774 people), according to official British figures. The International Organization for Migration says that at least 30 migrants have died or disappeared this year while trying to reach the United Kingdom via the English Channel. According to the latest figures from the British Home Office, some 2,109 have tried to cross in small boats in the last seven days. In 2022, the French authorities increased the police presence in their waters and on their beaches, from where the mafias sell tickets for poor rubber boats, sometimes even kayaks.
The Strait of Pas de Calais, one of the busiest in the world, has been the scene of several tragedies in recent years, an irrefutable fact that has not diminished the determination of migrants to embark on this dangerous journey. In 2022, five died at sea and four were reported missing while trying to cross to the United Kingdom. The deadliest shipwreck occurred in November 2021, when at least 27 people, aged between 7 and 46, died when their boat sank. This tragedy raised tensions between Paris and London, which agreed to step up their fight against this migratory traffic.
The Conservative Government of the United Kingdom approved in April of this year the questioned and criticized Rwanda planwhich allowed asylum seekers and foreigners who had arrived in the British Isles illegally to be deported to detention centres built in the African country.
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However, this Saturday the newly appointed Labour Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, declared the deportation scheme, which was so strongly defended by his predecessor, the Conservative Rishi Sunak, “dead and buried”. “This plan never achieved the deterrent effect it was intended to. You only need to look at the figures for these first six months.” [unos 13.500 inmigrantes han cruzado en 2024 el canal de la Mancha] “to understand the problem we have inherited (…); I am not prepared to continue with measures that are more gimmicky and artificial than effective,” Starmer concluded.
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