Six people died after the sinking of a migrant boat in the Channel on Saturday August 12, announced the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Premar). “Five to Ten” passengers were still wanted at midday, according to Premar. The boat was shipwrecked off Sangatte, in Pas-de-Calais, on the northern coast of France, “around 2 hours”, said the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor’s office, which opened an investigation.
Mid-morning, “Six people were recovered in serious condition and one of them, evacuated by helicopter to Calais hospital, was declared dead”, had first announced the Premar in a press release. The other five victims, taken care of by a lifeboat from the National Society for Rescue at Sea (SNSM), were declared dead on arrival at the port of Calais, said a spokeswoman for Premar. The first victim identified is a man of Afghan origin aged 25 to 30, detailed the prosecution.
About fifty passengers from this boat were rescued, said Premar. The boat was spotted sinking “early morning”by the French public service patrol boat Cormorant, who immediately called for help. On the French side, the search mobilized three ships, a helicopter and a plane at midday to survey the area as well as possible. Two British ships also took part in the rescue. In total, according to Premar, 39 people are on board the patrol boat Cormorant returned to moor at Calais, the other survivors having been rescued by the British Coast Guard.
Favorable weather conditions
“My thoughts are with the victims”wrote Elisabeth Borne on X (ex-Twitter), welcoming “the commitment of rescue teams mobilized around the national navy”. The French Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, is expected on site, adds the Prime Minister.
Since Wednesday evening, attempts to cross migrants aboard small boats have multiplied from the northern coast of France, thanks to weather conditions that have become more favorable again. For the night of Thursday to Friday, the Premar had reported the rescue, on the French side, of 116 migrants, including children, on three separate boats. The British Home Office for its part reported that, on Thursday, 755 migrants who made the crossing from France were spotted, a daily record since the beginning of the year.
More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel illegally in small boats since 2018, a very perilous crossing, according to a count carried out on Friday by Agence France-Presse based on official British figures. In 2022, five migrants died at sea and four went missing trying to reach the English coast from the northern coast of France. In November 2021, 27 migrants died in the sinking of their boat.