The French and British governments have been unsuccessfully trying to limit this route of illegal migration for years. Migrants pay people smugglers thousands of euros for a place on unsafe boats. So far, it has not been possible to significantly limit this flow, neither by increasing the number of police patrols on the French coast, nor by allocating more money to operations against people smugglers.
As the BBC’s correspondent in France, Andrew Harding, notes, people smugglers respond to police operations, making migrant boat trips even more dangerous. They are made from inland channels or from places on the French coast further south, thus making the dangerous journey across the crowded English Channel longer and longer. In addition, smugglers are now trying to get even more people into each boat – sometimes 90 people are crammed into an inflatable boat designed for a maximum of 40 people.
AFP reports that the boat whose bottom broke in the sea near the French city of Boulogne on Tuesday was overcrowded. A French coast guard helicopter, naval cutters and fishing vessels were involved in the rescue operation. More than 50 people were rescued, but 12, including six children and a pregnant woman, lost their lives. The health condition of the two rescued is critical. Only eight of those who started the journey in the overcrowded boat had life jackets.
A representative of the French prosecutor’s office said that most of those on the boat were of Eritrean origin, but the exact nationality has not yet been established.
The BBC reports that this year more than 21,000 people have crossed the English Channel illegally in boats. This is more than in the corresponding period last year, but less than in 2022.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the incident as “appalling and deeply tragic” and said that efforts should be stepped up to crack down on dangerous criminal gangs of people smugglers.
2024-09-05 16:24:29