Tragedy on the English Channel
Five bodies discovered on beach in France
April 23, 2024, 12:21 p.m
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Migrants are trying to get from France to Great Britain via the English Channel. At least five people are believed to have died, including a child. It wouldn’t be the first tragic case of its kind this year.
At least five migrants, including a child, have died in the English Channel while attempting to cross to Great Britain. Police sources said the accident occurred at night near Wimereux in northern France. The further circumstances are not yet known. This means that the number of migrants drowned in the English Channel this year exceeds that of last year. About 100 migrants were rescued and taken aboard a French naval ship, according to the newspaper Voix du Nord. They were to be driven to the port of Boulogne.
According to the prefecture, twelve people died in 2023. In January this year, five migrants, including a 14-year-old Syrian, drowned while trying in vain to reach a boat that was already in the water. The water temperature was nine degrees. In February, a 22-year-old Turk died after falling from a boat, and two other migrants are missing.
Most recently, a seven-year-old drowned in March when she fell into a canal that flows into the English Channel. The boat was overcrowded with 15 people and capsized. An Eritrean man was arrested on Saturday in connection with this.
Anti-refugee measures in Great Britain
Every year tens of thousands of people try to cross the English Channel from France to Great Britain in small boats. According to the British government, the number of illegal crossings fell by a third last year to just under 30,000, after peaking at around 45,000 in 2022.
The conservative British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had repeatedly announced that he would “stop” the refugees’ boats. It was only in February that Great Britain and the EU border protection agency Frontex signed an agreement to improve cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration. It includes the exchange of information to dismantle smuggler gangs and the shared use of drones to monitor borders.
On Tuesday, a controversial plan by the British government to deport migrants to Rwanda passed Parliament in London. Refugees who have arrived irregularly should therefore be able to be deported to Rwanda – regardless of where they come from – and the East African country will be classified as a safe third country. The opposition and human rights activists have sharply criticized the plan. The project was described as one of the most important measures in the fight against illegal immigration.