Four immigrants, including a two-year-old child, died on the night of Friday, October 4 to Saturday, October 5 while trying to reach the United Kingdom, Agence France-Presse learned in the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais and in Boulogne. Sur-Mer Prosecutor’s Office, Saturday. “Several immigrants have lost their lives again while trying to reach Great Britain as part of a sea crossing of the English Channel”the prefecture said in a news release.
Two different ships are involved. In the morning, a canoe “overloaded” requested assistance from the tugboat Bee-Normandyas reported by the Agence France-Presse of the maritime prefecture (Premar) of the English Channel and the North Sea, confirmed in World. Fourteen people who were on board this ship were recovered by the ship, including a two-year-old child who was found unconscious, the prefect of Pas de Calais, Jacques Billant, announced on Saturday afternoon. According to the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor, the first elements indicate that the child is dead “crushed” in the canoe An injured teenager was hospitalized in Boulogne. The other passengers on the ship continued on their way to the United Kingdom.
Three other people were found dead on another boat that left the coast of Calais with 83 people on board. Is “two men and a woman, all three are about thirty years old”the prefect specified.
“A terrible drama that should make us all aware of the tragedy that is occurring. “The smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these mafias that enrich themselves by organizing these death crossings.”wrote the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, in X.
Since the beginning of the “small boat” phenomenon, the year 2024 is the deadliest
Since January, more than 25,000 migrants have arrived on British shores after crossing the English Channel aboard improvised boats, a figure that has increased by 4% according to data from the British Home Office published on September 23.
A series of shipwrecks made 2024 the deadliest year since the phenomenon of voyages aboard improvised inflatable boats (called small boats), in response to the increasingly strong blockade of access to the Eurotunnel and the port of Calais.
Before Saturday’s events, at least forty-six exiles had already died in 2024 during these attempts by sea, compared to twelve in 2023. On the night of September 14 to 15, eight migrants died in the sinking of a ship that ended to set sail from the French coast, carrying around sixty passengers. On September 3, at least twelve other people died when their boat broke up off Cape Gris-Nez in the worst shipwreck of 2024 to date.
Migrants have also died from being crushed or trampled during attempts to cross this year, such as Dina Al-Shammari, a 21-year-old Kuwaiti woman, who died on July 28 after being crushed in an overloaded canoe.
Elected in July, British Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Keir Starmer promised to tackle illegal immigration by increasing the number of migrant deportations and cracking down on people smugglers. According to British authorities, the makeshift boats are increasingly loaded, with fifty-two passengers on average, compared to just thirteen in 2020. Between June 2023 and June 2024, 18% of the people who arrived on these Ships came from Afghanistan, a figure in sharp decline, followed by Iran (13%) and Vietnam (10%).
