According to figures from the Channel and North Sea maritime prefecture, as of December 18, at least 73 migrants have lost their lives this year trying to cross the sea to reach England.
“It’s been going on for 30 years, it’s a calamity.” The year 2024 was particularly deadly for candidates for exile to England. To the point of setting a new record. According to figures from the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Prémar), relayed by Agence France-Presse on December 18, at least 73 migrants died while trying to cross the Channel in small boats. .
Guest of BFM Grand Lille this Thursday, December 26, Dany Patoux, president of Osmose 62, an association which helps exiles in Boulonnais, speaks of a “devastating, catastrophic year, with more deaths to deplore”.
“There are more and more crossings. In Boulonnais, we met a lot of people, thousands,” she says.
“The boats are overloaded”
In 2024, the average rises to 54 people per crossing, an increase of 50% compared to 2022. This overload increases the risks: 90% of shipwrecks involve boats carrying 50 or more migrants, according to Prémar.
“The boats are overloaded. We saw 30 to 40 people per boat in previous years, now it’s up to 80, even a hundred people,” describes Dany Patoux.
The Pas-de-Calais prefecture deplores the use of under-inflated, under-motorized boats, without life jackets, and organized departures “even in the middle of winter”.
Consequently, the danger of the coastal zone has increased, according to Prémar, concentrating “nearly 40% of deaths”. The boarding and return to the beach phases are “often chaotic”, creating risks of hypothermia, drowning or asphyxiation.
“It’s a political question”
According to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, 5,800 people were rescued at sea in 2024 and 871 crossing attempts were prevented by the police. Between 2022 and 2024, “one in five migrants” failed in their crossing attempt, according to Prémar.
However, according to migrant aid associations, the police on the beaches do not deter departures, but force exiles to move further away, lengthening crossings and increasing the dangers. “The Channel has become a cemetery and those in power are looking elsewhere,” Axel Gaudinat, of the Utopia 56 association, denounced to AFP in October.
An opinion shared by Dany Patoux. “It’s a political question. France and European countries must take this issue head on. […] It’s not us who can change things,” she criticizes.
“The exiles are there, we absolutely must take care of them,” concludes the president of Osmose 62.
On December 25, 12 rescue operations were launched in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais. In total, 107 exiles were rescued.
