During the night from Saturday to Sunday, around 2 a.m., four migrants died and another was seriously injured near a beach in Wimereux, in Pas-de-Calais. They were trying to reach a boat at sea in freezing water to cross the Channel, the maritime prefecture said.
“When a boat left the beach, people found themselves in difficulty at sea to reach the boat,” said the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Prémar), confirming information from The voice of the North. Before adding: “At this stage, we regret four migrants dead and one migrant in absolute emergency transferred to the Boulogne-sur-Mer hospital. »
A majority of the shipwrecked were “recovered”
Law enforcement officers on land “reported the departure of the boat and the people in difficulty in the water,” added Prémar. A “majority of the castaways were recovered by the police on site”.
The intervention tug Abeille Normandie “which was on patrol in the area launched its boat to rescue the shipwrecked people” and, “at that moment”, the crew “identified inanimate and unconscious people to the water,” continued this same source.
The last two deaths date back to December 15 when two migrants died on the same day in two separate crossing attempts.