2024-09-16 01:00:11
Some deaths are announced. Those that took place during the night of Saturday September 14 to Sunday September 15 off the coast of Ambleteuse, a small coastal town in Pas-de-Calais, certainly were. Eight men died while trying to reach the United Kingdom in a rubber boat.
This tragedy comes after, already on September 3, twelve people drowned and two others disappeared after their boat was damaged off the coast of Wimereux, a town near Ambleteuse.
These two shipwrecks are the most serious to have occurred in the Channel since the beginning of the year. They brought to 46 the number of migrants who lost their lives in 2024 trying to reach England on airships, according to estimates from the Ministry of the Interior. If more than 23,000 people have successfully completed the journey, a level close to the records for 2022, the road death is unprecedented.
“Ships” become more dangerous every year
On September 14, the weather became favorable for crossings again after several days of bad weather. Groups of people are preparing to try their luck, heading to the beach, hiding in the forest waiting for a signal from their captor. That day, British authorities counted the arrival of 801 people on fourteen ships. That’s almost 60 passengers in each boat, even though they are less than ten meters long and they are not comfortable. Since the appearance of the so-called “small boat” in 2018, the number of boats has increased every year.
“Job done [par les autorités des pays européens] to stop the offer [des réseaux de passeurs] in ships means we see more crowded ships than before”announced on July 29 to the Emirati daily Country a former boss of the English border force, Tony Smith.
According to the administrator of Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, who held a press conference on Sunday, the boat that sank at night had more than fifty people. “Coming from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran”. Some of them are equipped with a life jacket. While the ship was launched at Ambleteuse shortly before midnight, “He quickly found himself in trouble, announced Jacques Billant. It was obvious that the ship had broken apart on the rocks.”in the immediate vicinity of the beach.
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