A week after a migrant boat capsized in the English Channel with at least 27 dead, the two survivors made serious allegations against British and French authorities.
Calais – A week after a migrant boat capsized in the English Channel with at least 27 dead, the two survivors have made serious allegations against British and French authorities. One of the survivors told the French broadcaster BFMTV on Wednesday that their boat was full of water, and all the refugees landed in the sea and clung to each other. Shortly before the sinking, the people in the boat contacted the French coast guard. “We gave the French our position and they told us we were in British waters”.
“Then we called the British police and they said call the French police,” said the 21-year-old. “Britain should have helped us because we drowned in British waters, but it didn’t help us and did nothing for us.” The second survivor also told the broadcaster that the people had contacted the British side twice from the boat. “Nobody came, the boat went down, people died and I swam in the sea for eleven hours.”
So far this year, more than 25,700 people have illegally crossed the English Channel. That is almost three times as many as in the whole of 2020. The British government accuses France of not doing enough against illegal crossings, which Paris rejects. After the sinking of the migrant boat, France proposed an EU agreement with Great Britain to deal with the refugee crisis. In addition, France agreed with Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to intensify the fight against smugglers. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for an agreement with France to take back migrants. (dpa)
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