At least 31 migrants die while crossing the English Channel

According to the mayor of Calais, a port in northern France, at least 31 migrants drowned when crossing the English Channel to reach British shores after a small, unsafe boat capsized.

According to local fishermen, on Wednesday, December 22, due to calm seas, a much larger number of migrants left French shores heading towards Britain.

A fisherman, after seeing the capsized boat and lifeless bodies floating on the water’s surface, alerted the coast guard and rescue personnel.

The mayor of the port of Calais, one of the main departure points for migrants heading to British shores, stated in an interview with a local television network that the death toll was at least 31 people.

The coast guard announced that it currently cannot determine the exact number of people who drowned and added that rescue personnel found 20 people at the scene of the accident, of whom only two were alive.

Initial assessment by the coast guard and local authorities suggests that the capsized boat had approximately 40 passengers on board.

Gérald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, wrote on Twitter while traveling to the port of Calais: “The capsizing of a boat and the drowning of a number of migrants in the English Channel is a very tragic incident.”

Local authorities said two helicopters and three coast guard boats were dispatched to the scene for rescue and search operations.

A local fisherman told Reuters that on Wednesday morning he saw two plastic boats near the shore, one carrying passengers and the other empty.

According to him, one of his colleagues, after spotting an empty boat and approximately 15 bodies floating on the water’s surface, informed rescue personnel and the French coast guard.

He added that on Wednesday, due to calm weather in the area, more migrant boats were seen along the shoreline, although the weather and seawater were very cold.

Reuters reporters also observed on Wednesday morning a group of more than 40 migrants moving toward Britain in a plastic boat.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will not allow the English Channel to become a “graveyard.” He also said those responsible for this tragedy must be found.

The English Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, and the waters in the region have strong waves. Plastic boats that are unsafe and overcrowded can barely withstand these waves.

Despite France’s police saying they have increased their efforts to prevent migrants from heading to Britain, statistics released by the British immigration office show that the number of migrants who have reached British shores by crossing the English Channel has increased significantly this year.

This has become a source of tension in Franco-British relations.

A spokesperson for the British Prime Minister’s office said Boris Johnson will chair an emergency cabinet committee to review the migrant deaths and the migration crisis in the English Channel.

Source: Radio Farda