According to the testimony of the two survivors of the sinking, which occurred on the night of November 24, the passengers repeatedly alerted the French and British help to report that their boat was sinking.
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A complaint for manslaughter and failure to provide assistance was filed against the maritime prefect of the Channel and the French and English rescuers by the association Utopia 56 after the sinking which cost the lives of at least 27 people on the night of 23 until November 24, 2021.
Utopia 56 estimates, in the complaint that franceinfo was able to consult, that the 27 people, including a child and a teenager, “who tried to cross the Channel, were killed, despite calls to the English and French rescue services.“The association is based in particular on the testimony of the two survivors of the shipwreck. They both tell of having called on several occasions the French and British help that night to report that their boat was sinking. the passengers of the boat have therefore “spent the night in the icy and choppy waters of the English Channel“.
This tragedy is not the first, indicates Utopia 56. A few days before, on November 20, passengers from another boat recounted the same situation: French and British rescuers who hand over responsibility without intervening “despite many distress calls. “That day, the association received several voice messages from survivors who explained that they had repeatedly called French and British help that night to report that their boat was sinking. But the rescuers French and British were slow to intervene and handed over the responsibilities.
The agreements between France and the United Kingdom stipulate that the two countries are required to coordinate in this kind of situation. According to Utopia 56, they did not fulfill their role that night of November 24, since first aid did not arrive until 2 p.m. the next day.
Following the sinking, an investigation was opened for “manslaughter, assistance with the entry, movement or illegal stay of a foreigner in France in an organized gang, trafficking in human beings in an organized gang and participation in a criminal association“. The national court against organized crime (JUNALCO) in Paris then took up the investigation. Utopia 56’s complaint was therefore sent to the Paris prosecutor.
Asked to react to the filing of this complaint, the maritime prefecture of the Manche argues that “coordination has always been effective, in any case it has precisely enabled thousands of people to be saved since the start of the year“, and awaits the results of the investigation:”Have people contacted rescuers, maybe. Has the call been received? Only the investigation will be able to give it. “