The French association for aid to exiles Utopia 56 announced on Monday have lodged a complaint against the French maritime prefect of the Channel but also against two French and British relief officers, after the shipwreck that claimed the lives of 27 migrants at the end of November.
The complaint for “manslaughter” and “failure to provide assistance” was filed with the Paris prosecutor on Friday. She aims the maritime prefect Philippe Dutrieux, the Director of the Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Center (Cross) Gris-Nez Marc Bonnafous, and the English maritime rescue director (Her Majesty’s Coastguards) Claire Hugues.
Unanswered distress calls?
“According to the testimonies of the two survivors, relatives of deceased people and people who made the crossing on the same day, ‘distress calls would have been made to the French and English rescue services’ before the bodies were discovered by a boat from peach”, explained in a statement Utopia 56. “No help would have been given to them immediately”, denounces the association.
The bodies of 27 migrants – eighteen men, seven women, a 16-year-old teenager and a 7-year-old child, mostly Iraqi Kurds – were recovered on November 24 in the English Channel. Only two men, an Iraqi Kurd and a Sudanese, according to the French Ministry of the Interior, could be rescued.
The overwhelming testimony of a survivor
According to the Iraqi Kurdish survivor, 33 people were on board. He had reported to Iraqi Kurdish channel Rudaw that the migrants had telephoned the French and British emergency services when their boat began to sink. The emergency services had not been triggered, french and english returning the responsibility for the intervention, had assured the survivor. His words were confirmed by the second survivor, specifies the complaint.
“Negligence of the French and British sea rescue services” – The Utopia 56 association
Utopia 56 denounces in this complaint “negligence of the French and British sea rescue services” that the association notes “regularly”. The association hopes that with this procedure, “all light be shed on the circumstances of this shipwreck”. She regrets that the investigation opened in France appears “to focus primarily on the role of smugglers”, and that the United Kingdom does not appear to have launched any investigation. Investigation for “help with irregular entry and stay in an organized group”, “homicide and involuntary injuries” and “criminal conspiracy” was entrusted on Friday to examining magistrates in France.