After the death of four people, a 2-year-old child, a woman and two men on Saturday, who were trying to cross the Channel to reach England, rallies are planned for this Sunday and Monday. What happened? Who are the victims? Where is the investigation? 20 Minutes takes stock.
What happened?
During the night from Friday to Saturday, four migrants – a child, a woman and two men – died “crushed” in two overloaded canoes, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais and the prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Seine explained on Saturday. Sea. These victims were trying to reach Great Britain by crossing the Channel.
According to the British Home Office, 973 migrants crossed the Channel to reach the United Kingdom illegally on makeshift dinghies that evening. Such a number of daily crossings had never been recorded since the start of the year, he said.
Who are the victims?
On a first boat hit by an engine failure, off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer, emergency services recovered an inanimate 2-year-old boy, who could not be saved.
According to the first elements of investigations, the mother of the child, of Somali origin, “would have entrusted her son to a man to carry him while he got into the boat”, said the prosecutor, Guirec Le Bras, on Sunday. Then, “a movement of the people present in the boat would have caused the man who was holding the child in his arms to fall in the middle of the boat, who would have suffocated under the weight of this man,” he added.
On a second boat, also overloaded and leaving the coast of Calais, “several engine failures generated panic”. Three people, two men and a woman around 30 years old, were discovered inanimate at the bottom of the boat, “probably crushed, suffocated and drowned during the stampedes, in the 40 cm of water present at the bottom of the boat.” inflatable boat”, according to the story of prefect Jacques Billant on Saturday.
Where is the investigation?
An investigation was opened by the prosecution for “manslaughter” and “criminal conspiracy”. At this stage, no one has been arrested in the context of the two investigations opened by the prosecution, the prosecutor said on Sunday morning.
By “greed” and “with disregard for human life”, “smuggling networks put people at ever greater risk, not only adults, but more and more families, with children, babies” , had castigated the prefect on Saturday.
Are tributes planned?
A gathering in tribute to these people who died at sea is to be held in Calais on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and another in Dunkirk on Monday evening, according to the migrant aid associations Utopia 56 and Salam. These deaths bring the number of migrants who died in the Channel to at least 51 in 2024.