21 people have died since the beginning of the year trying to reach Great Britain, according to the Nord prefecture

Following the death of a migrant on Wednesday July 17 in the sinking of a boat in the Channel, the prefecture of the Northern defense and security zone communicated on Thursday and specified that with this death, it is “21 migrants have died crossing to Britain since the start of the year”.

Since the beginning of the year, 352 attempted sea crossings have already been intercepted by law enforcement (compared to 442 the same period last year), adds the prefecture of the northern defense and security zone, which specifies that “the average number of people per boat was 41 in 2022, 49 in 2023 and 63 in recent weeks”.

Another figure presented, that of injured police officers and gendarmes: “In combating these attempts, internal security forces are exposed to smugglers and migrants who can be violent. Since the beginning of 2024, 35 police officers and gendarmes have been injured compared to 40 in 2023.” Please note that this summer, more than 1,000 police officers and gendarmes are deployed along the entire coastline of the North zone. “to combat illegal and clandestine immigration in a context of strong aggression from smugglers and also migrants”.

Regarding the judicial work of dismantling the people smuggling networks, the press release specifies that since the beginning of the year, “317 arrests were made and 15 people smuggling networks were dismantled”.