According to a provisional report, 12 people died on Tuesday, September 3 after a boat carrying several dozen migrants sank in the English Channel.
A boat carrying several dozen migrants in the English Channel sank in Pas-de-Calais on Tuesday, September 3. According to an initial report from the authorities, at least 12 people died.
• 12 dead and 65 shipwrecked, according to a provisional report
The provisional and already very heavy toll reported on Tuesday mid-afternoon at 12 dead after the sinking of a boat carrying several dozen migrants in the Channel on the morning of September 3 off Boulogne-sur-Mer and Wimereux, according to the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea and Gérald Darmanin.
The resigning Interior Minister said that several other people were injured and two others were still missing.
65 people were rescued, while “several of them” subsequently required “emergency medical care”.
“The search operations are still ongoing. All of the people are being taken care of by ground rescue services,” the prefecture wrote in a press release in the middle of the afternoon.
• Darmanin, expected on site, speaks of a “terrible shipwreck”
The resigning Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, mentioned this Tuesday, around 3:25 p.m. on X, the death of 12 people in the shipwreck.
The elected representative of Tourcoing stressed on the social network that it is a “terrible shipwreck” and assured that “all State services are mobilized to find the missing and take care of the victims.”
The resigning minister will go to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer early in the evening. He will first speak with those who intervened following the shipwreck before speaking to the press to provide an update on the situation.
• Numerous political reactions
Several elected officials expressed their emotion after this tragedy. The mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Frédéric Cuvillier, spoke in a post on Facebook of “a new tragedy” (…) “on our territory”.
“A boat carrying nearly 70 people sank off our coast,” said Frédéric Cuvillier, also president of the Boulogne urban community.
The elected official stands alongside the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, the sub-prefect and the mayor of Le Portel and salutes the commitment of the rescuers.
The rebellious MEP Damien Carême calls for a change in French and European laws in the face of this “avoidable” tragedy according to him. “A new tragedy before our eyes, a consequence of the deadly policies of France and the European Union,” writes the elected official on X.
Former LR MP Pierre-Henri Dumont sends his “thoughts” to the relatives of the victims of the shipwreck. “How many more deaths will it take to finally act, save lives and restore peace to the inhabitants?”, he writes on X.
Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel, regrets a “catastrophic toll”, while saluting the action of the rescuers deployed at sea since the beginning of the day.
• The deadliest shipwreck of 2024
In addition to the Minck ship assigned by the State, significant rescue resources were deployed, including three helicopters, a customs plane and the customs patrol boat Jacques Oudart Fourmentin to locate shipwrecked people, as well as two fishing vessels.
Numerous emergency medical services and firefighters have also been deployed to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where an advanced medical post has been set up to treat victims.
Last January, five migrants died off the coast of Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais) while trying to reach a boat to cross the sea to go to the United Kingdom.
The tragedy that occurred on Tuesday is the worst shipwreck of the year in the English Channel. It makes 2024 the deadliest year since the beginning of Channel crossings on makeshift boats.
