David Montagne
modified to
11:56 a.m., November 16, 2022
Four days after their arrival in Toulon, 44 of the 234 passengers of the Ocean Viking will be expelled from French territory, announced Gérald Darmanin. Europe 1 has obtained the list of migrants rescued by SOS Méditerranée. We know a little more about their country of origin, they come in particular from Morocco, Eritrea, Côte d’Ivoire and especially Bangladesh.
On board the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking, several nationalities rubbed shoulders. These men and women, Malians, Syrians, Eritreans fled war, misery, oppression. Europe 1 has obtained the list of these people currently present in the waiting area of Hyères in the Var since the end of last week. Many of them come from Bangladesh.
54 Bangladeshis out of 234 migrants
They are 54 out of the 234 arrivals from Bangladesh, followed by Eritreans in number 39, Syrians 32, Egyptians 27, Malians 25, out of a total of 11 nationalities. Countries very far apart geographically, 9,000 kilometers between some of them for example, which accredits for a prefect the thesis of a well-established organization of smugglers.
Rather young men
Overall, these arrivals are men, rather young: 51% of them say they are between 18 and 30 years old, 28% are minors, often accompanied by members of their family. They are ten to declare the same date of birth, that of January 1, 2005, which makes it possible to pass opportunely under the protective threshold of 18 years.
According to information from Europe 1, of these 234 migrants, only 25 hold a passport. An additional difficulty to certify their age and nationality. A problematic situation since France can only impose a return if it can prove with certainty their country of origin.