The death of 27 migrants on Wednesday in the sinking of their boat in the English Channel, an unprecedented tragedy on this migratory route, caused a shock wave in London and Paris, who agreed on the “urgency” to intensify the fight against this traffic after weeks of tension.
French President Emmanuel Macron initially announced a death toll of 31, but it has been revised downwards by the Interior Ministry.
Among the victims are 17 men, two of whom died in hospital, seven women and “three young people”, whose exact age is still unknown, Lille prosecutor Carole Étienne told AFP. Two survivors “apparently Somali and Iraqi” were also hospitalized and should be able to be heard shortly, she indicated.
“France will not let the Channel become a cemetery”, launched Emmanuel Macron, calling for “an emergency meeting of European ministers”. He promised that everything would be “done to find and condemn those responsible” for this shipwreck off the coast of Calais, described as “tragedy” by the French Prime Minister, Jean Castex.
“Shocked, revolted and deeply saddened”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured Sky News that he wanted to “do more” with France to discourage illegal crossings, pointing to Franco-British disagreements.
In an interview that evening, Mr Johnson and Mr Macron “agreed on the urgency of stepping up joint efforts to prevent these deadly crossings,” according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
Autopsies
They also insisted on “the importance of a close collaboration with the Belgian and Dutch neighbors as well as with the partners of the continent”.
London and Paris had already agreed recently to strengthen their efforts to stop departures, after the arrival on 11 November of 1185 migrants in England, a record.
This tragedy, feared by the authorities and associations for several months, is by far the deadliest since the soaring in 2018 of the migratory crossings of the Channel, in the face of the increasing lockdown of the port of Calais and the Channel tunnel, used until there by migrants trying to reach England.
The rescue ships bringing back the victims docked in the evening in the port of Calais. During the night, the remains were being transferred to the Lille forensic institute for autopsy.
The specialized interregional jurisdiction (JIRS) of Lille was seized of the investigation, opened for “assistance with the irregular entry and stay in an organized group”, “homicide and involuntary injuries” and “criminal association”. The wreckage was seized and will be examined to clarify the causes of the sinking, said the prosecutor.
According to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, four smugglers suspected of being linked to the tragedy were arrested, but the prosecutor did not confirm this element. He shared on Twitter of his “strong emotion” and condemned the “criminal nature of the smugglers who organize these crossings”, before calling for “a very harsh international response”.
Before this sinking, the human toll in the Channel since January amounted to three dead and four missing, after six dead and three missing in 2020.
“Body adrift”
The drama unfolded on a ” long boat », A fragile inflatable boat with a flexible bottom, the use of which by smugglers has increased since the summer. The boat had left Dunkirk, according to a source familiar with the matter. “We recovered six bodies adrift,” said Charles Devos, the boss of the star Notre-Dame-du-Risban, of the National Society of Rescue at the Sea of Calais, describing “an inflatable boat downright deflated”.
Two helicopters and three boats were notably dispatched during the rescue.
About fifty people gathered in the evening near the port, provided with candles. “Darmanin, murderer, you have blood on your hands,” they chanted in particular.
La Manche “is in the process of being transformed into an open-air cemetery”, alarmed Pierre Roques, of the Auberge des migrants, a local association. The United Nations Agency for Refugees, “shocked and upset”, for its part considered that “only coordinated and united efforts […] will prevent further tragedies ”.
“What happened is a horrible tragedy,” Didier Leschi, director general of the French Immigration Office, told AFP. He denounced the smugglers “who try at all costs to maintain camps near the sea to facilitate the morbid work of making migrants cross the Channel at their own risk”. Across the Channel, the Conservative MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, deplored “an absolute tragedy”.
The attempts to cross the Channel on board small boats have doubled in the last three months, recently warned the maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea, Philippe Dutrieux.
As of November 20, 31,500 migrants had left the coast since the start of the year and 7,800 migrants had been rescued. A trend that has not abated despite the winter temperatures.
According to London, 22,000 migrants made the crossing in the first ten months of the year.