This Sunday, September 15, eight migrants died in the sinking of their clandestine boat bound for Great Britain. A tragedy that brings to 46 the number of deaths in the Channel since January 2024, a figure much higher than in previous years.
An overloaded boat, few life jackets, and a boat that was torn apart on the rocks as soon as it reached the sea: eight migrants, candidates for exile to Great Britain, died this Sunday in a shipwreck.
The victims of this shipwreck that occurred early in the night near Ambleteuse (Pas-de-Calais) are “obviously adults”, declared the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, during a press briefing on the Ambleteuse sea wall. Six survivors were hospitalized in relative emergency, including a ten-month-old baby with hypothermia, he added.
The clandestine boat had nearly 60 passengers, “from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran,” and “only one person in six was equipped with a life jacket,” Mr. Billant stressed.
2024, the deadliest year
This tragedy occurred less than two weeks after the worst shipwreck of the year in this region, which left twelve dead on September 3. According to the prefect, it brings to 46 the number of deaths in such clandestine crossings since January, confirming that 2024 is by far the deadliest year since the start of the phenomenon of makeshift boats to cross the Channel in 2018.
In 2023, 15 people lost their lives, compared to five in 2022. The year 2021 also saw a terrible tragedy: 27 bodies were recovered in November, including those of six women and a little girl. Only two survivors were able to be rescued.
Following the shipwreck this Sunday, the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “aiding the entry and stay of illegal immigrants in an organized gang, with the aggravating circumstance of endangering the lives of others,” Patrick Leleu, deputy prosecutor, told AFP. No arrests had been made by mid-morning on Sunday, he said during the prefect’s press briefing.
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“It’s horrible. It’s another loss of life,” said David Lammy, head of the diplomacy.[…]
- challenges.fr
