Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
On August 12, 2023, an SNSM lifeboat, “Notre Dame du Risban”, entered the port of Calais following the capsizing of a migrant boat trying to cross the channel from France. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
CNN
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A boat carrying migrants capsized in the English Channel, killing six people and leaving two people still missing, officials say.
According to the testimonies of the survivors, 65 or 66 people were on board the sinking boat, according to local French authorities. They added that more than 20 people were taken to Dover by British authorities.
Local Major Frank Derzin Tweeted A picture of some of the rescued migrants in a rescue boat covered with gold aluminum blankets.
“Here’s another disaster with many drowned migrants off the coast of Calais/Visant. One day we must stop simply recording the number of dead in the Channel and the Mediterranean,” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Beimana Asad, a local councilor in the London Borough of Harrow, said all six of the drowned were Afghan men.
“Afghans are fleeing Afghanistan because of the Taliban. They are in small boats because the UK government does not open safe and legal passage to Afghans as it does to Ukrainians. Don’t even know what to say anymore,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The English Channel is one of the busiest waterways in the world, and crossing it in small boats is extremely dangerous.
Human traffickers usually overload ships and casualties are common in rough seas.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – whose ruling Conservatives are fighting a referendum – has made stopping the ferries one of his priorities for the dangerous crossing across the English Channel.
Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
Despite the UK government’s efforts, more and more people are attempting the dangerous crossing.
But on Thursday 755 migrants were found to have crossed the Channel to the UK, government figures show. This is the highest number recorded on a single day this year.
As of this week 100,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since 2018, including nearly 16,000 this year, figures show.
39 asylum seekers were removed on Friday A controversial boat Hundreds of people were evacuated after Legionella bacteria were found in the water.
French authorities have stepped up patrols and other preventive measures The UK agreed in March to send hundreds of millions of euros annually to Paris.
French Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne A Tweet “Thoughts are with the victims” of the overturned migrant boat.
“I salute the dedication of the (French Navy) rescue teams who saved around fifty shipwrecked people,” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, and French Foreign Secretary Hervé Perville said. Goes to the scene.
And UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman TweetedWriting, “My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the tragic loss of life in the Channel today.”
“I have spoken this morning with our Border Force teams who are supporting the French authorities in response to this incident,” he added.
