5 Cross soldiers indicted for failure to assist a person in danger

Five soldiers from Cross, the Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue Gris Nez (Pas-de-Calais), were indicted Thursday, May 25 for failure to assist a person in danger and left free without judicial control, learned franceinfo from judicial sources. These are indictments in the investigation into the sinking of a boat in the English Channel on November 24, 2021 and the death of 27 migrants who were trying to reach the British coast from France.

>>> Shipwreck of November 24 in the English Channel: French relief had been alerted

In all, 9 people had been placed in police custody, 4 of them emerged free, without prosecution at this stage. Three investigating judges from Junalco (the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime) of the Paris Court of Justice are in charge of the investigation.

On the night of November 23 to 24, 2021, the migrants on this boat in difficulty called or tried to call French rescue services 18 times. They dialed either 196, the number of Cross (Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue), which depends on the maritime prefecture, or 112, the number of Samu which then transfers calls to Cross. Six times the migrants in distress sent their geolocation to the Cross, according to the report of the first call.

In July 2022, 10 people suspected of being involved in an illegal immigration network linked to this case have already been indicted. According to a source close to the investigation, these individuals are suspected of being the smugglers, drivers and lodgers, in particular of an Afghan illegal immigration network, linked in the chartering of the makeshift boat, which sank in the Channel.