At least 31 migrants who were trying to reach the United Kingdom died in the sinking of their boat in the Channel, off Calais (Pas-de-Calais), Wednesday, November 24. The Head of State and the Minister of the Interior communicated this new assessment in the early evening. Gérald Darmanin spoke from Calais hospital where two survivors are “cared for and whose days are unfortunately also in danger”, did he declare. “We have no more information on the identity of these people and the research will continue in the coming hours and tomorrow, to see if there were other people in this makeshift boat”, he added.
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Gérald Darmanin has also announced that qanother smuggler suspected of being “directly linked” with this shipwreck were arrested. The Dunkirk prosecutor’s office had announced a little earlier the opening of an investigation for “assistance with entry to illegal residence in an organized group” and “aggravated manslaughter”.
The rescue ships bringing back the victims, which included five women and a little girl, were to dock in the evening in Calais, where a hangar was opened in the port to accommodate the bodies. A large security perimeter has been set up with a large system of firefighters and rescuers, noted an AFP journalist present on the spot. According to the maritime affairs administration, the search has for the moment been halted.
This tragedy is the deadliest since the soaring in 2018 of migratory crossings of the Channel, in the face of the increasing lockdown of the port of Calais and the Channel tunnel used until then by migrants trying to reach England.
This This terrible and unprecedented drama in La Manche sparked a wave of reactions and indignation in Paris and London after several weeks of tension between the two countries. “France will not let the English Channel become a cemetery”, said Emmanuel Macron, Wednesday evening in a press release. The President of the Republic requests the “immediate reinforcement of the resources of the Frontex agency at the external borders” of the EU and demands “an emergency meeting of European ministers concerned by the migration challenge”. He assured that “everything will be done to find and condemn those responsible” of what the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, described as “tragedy”.
The latter convened Thursday morning (at 8:30 am) an emergency interministerial meeting (which will be attended by the ministers of the Interior, Justice, the Armies, the Sea, Transport, Foreign Affairs, as well as the secretary of ‘State to Europe, according to Matignon) during which the Minister of the Interior promised to make “new proposals for means” to fight against smuggling networks.
After a crisis meeting, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “shocked, revolted and deeply saddened” after this drama, assuring wanting “Do more” with France to discourage illegal crossings. “We had difficulty persuading some of our partners, in particular the French, to act up to the situation, but I understand the difficulties that all countries are facing”, he said on the British channel Sky News. “What we want now is to do more together.”
The British government, which is preparing to tighten considerably the conditions for granting asylum, wants to make “impracticable” these perilous crossings in one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, where the currents are strong and the water temperature low.