“Several migrants have lost their lives” during the night from Saturday to Sunday in Ambleteuse (Pas-de-Calais) while trying to clandestinely cross the English Channel to England, announced the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais on Sunday 15 September. The prefect of Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, will hold a press conference at 10 am on the Ambleteuse dike, during which he will speak “an update on the situation”.
The tragedy came less than two weeks after the worst shipwreck of the year, which left twelve dead on September 3 and raised the death toll on such voyages since January to at least thirty-seven, making 2024 the deadliest year since the start of the phenomenon of makeshift boats in the English Channel.
Numerous attempts in recent days
In recent days, there have been numerous attempts to cross the border. In twenty-four hours, between Friday and Saturday, “200 castaways were rescued”The maritime prefecture of the English Channel and the North Sea clarified on Saturday evening, stressing that “Eighteen attempts by boats to leave were monitored (…) all day long » by the Cap Gris-Nez regional operational surveillance and rescue centre.
Tragedies have been happening since the beginning of summer. In mid-July, six migrants died in one week in three separate shipwrecks: four on July 12, an Eritrean woman on July 17 and a man on July 19.
Since the start of the year, more than 22,000 migrants have arrived in England after crossing the English Channel by boat, according to British authorities. Elected in July, Keir Starmer’s Labour government has promised to tackle illegal immigration by increasing the number of migrant deportations and cracking down on smugglers.
