29.03.2024

Rescue operation under way after migrant boat sinks trying to reach UK

Several people, including a young child, are feared to have died after a boat carrying migrants attempting to reach the UK sank in the English Channel.

French authorities have mounted a search and rescue operation off the coast of Dunkirk and 18 people have so far been pulled from the water and taken to hospital.

The local Voix du Nord newspaper reported that a man, a woman and a five-year-old child had died, while an eight-year-old child was in a critical condition.

Survivors, who included Iraqis and Iranians, reported that a baby had also fallen in the water and not been recovered.

The report was not immediately confirmed by French authorities, who said they could not yet publish a death toll.

The Préfecture maritime de la Manche said nearby fishing vessels were sent to the scene alongside lifeboats, a helicopter, naval and customs ships.

“Eighteen people have already been taken for treatment at Calais and Dunkirk hospitals,” a statement added.

“The boat carrying the migrants sank and search operations are still under way.”

It came just over a week after a man was found dead on a beach near Calais after appearing to have drowned while trying to cross the Channel.

The tragedies come after repeated warnings that British government policies on migrants attempting to reach the UK from France were increasing the risk of deaths.

The Care4Calais tragedy said the disaster should be a “wake up call for those in power in France and the UK”.

Priti Patel in Dover as Government face criticism over migrant crossing crisis

“We have to provide a safe and legal process by which refugees can have their UK asylum claims heard, that’s the way to put an end to terrifying, dangerous sea crossings and stop tragedy striking again,” said founder Clare Moseley.

“No one should ever feel they have to get into a fragile craft and risk their lives crossing the Channel, least of all vulnerable children.

”Refugees feel pushed to take these risks because of the policies of the French and British governments. Living in miserable conditions on the streets of Calais, hounded by the police, and left with no clear, legal process to have their UK asylum cases heard, refugees feel they have no other option but to take huge risks to make it to Britain, and some pay with their lives.”

The UN Refugee Agency has called for the British and French governments to make saving lives the “first priority”.

But the Home Office has focused on increasing security along the French coastline and is attempting to increase prosecutors of people smugglers, and asylum seekers who steer dinghies.

Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, said: “It is terrible that tragedy has struck in the Channel again. People traffickers have no regard for life, no matter how old or young.

“These perilous crossings must be stopped, once and for all, before there is more loss of life in these stormy winter seas.”

The National Crime Agency said sea crossings in small boats had become a more common route to the UK after a fall in freight traffic during the coronavirus pandemic, and crackdowns to stop migrants using lorries.

The government drew up a new “joint action plan” with France earlier this year and put a former royal marine in the post of “clandestine Channel threat commander”, Dan O’Mahoney.

The RAF has sent surveillance aircraft to assist the Border Force, after the UK gave France millions of pounds to increase security along its coastline.

A parliamentary report released last November said “dire” conditions in camps in northern France were among the driving factors behind increasing migrant sea crossings.

“Focusing on increasing border security without improving conditions in the region may have the counterproductive effect of forcing migrants to make desperate journeys across the Channel,” the Foreign Affairs Committee said.

“The UK should work closely with French authorities to improve the conditions for migrants. It should ensure efficient processing of asylum claims by those with relatives in the UK, and make it a priority to maintain close bilateral cooperation with France after Brexit.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the maritime prefecture had released a weather warning for strong winds and rough seas.

An official notification called for sailors to postpone any departures and for people to avoid watersports and swimming.

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