Twelve migrants die trying to cross English Channel

AT LEAST 12 migrants lost their lives off the northern French coast on Tuesday while attempting to cross the Channel to England, marking the deadliest incident of its kind this year, according to the French government. A major rescue operation was launched in response to the disaster.

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin announced the death toll on X, stating that two migrants were still missing.

Several migrants were injured after their boat, carrying dozens, encountered trouble near Wimereux, a town approximately five kilometres from Boulogne-sur-Mer on the French coast. A source close to the investigation confirmed that the deceased included three minors.

Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor Guirec Le Bras stated that the majority of those who died were from Eritrea. He added that ten of the victims were female and two male, with half of the total being minors.

The first to respond to the emergency were crew members on a French government-operated ship, the Minck, according to naval officer Etienne Baggio. The rescue operation also involved French navy helicopters, fishing boats, and military vessels.

This incident is the deadliest of the year, with 25 people having died in migrant crossings so far in 2024, up from 12 in 2023.

Efforts to curb the flow of migrants crossing the Channel have been ongoing for years, with both the French and British governments attempting to stop the crossings. Migrants often pay smugglers large sums for the dangerous journey from France to England in small boats.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper described Tuesday's events as "horrifying and deeply tragic." She condemned the "gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives," accusing them of prioritising profits over lives.

Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron had earlier in the summer pledged to strengthen "cooperation" to manage the increasing numbers of undocumented migrants.

Despite these efforts, 351 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats on Monday alone, with 21,615 making the journey this year, according to UK government statistics. The crossing is perilous, and in November 2021, 27 migrants died when their boat capsized, marking the deadliest single disaster to date.

French authorities aim to prevent migrants from taking to the water but only intervene for rescue purposes once they are afloat, citing safety concerns.

Darmanin, who visited the site of the tragedy on Tuesday, urged the EU and Britain to negotiate a new treaty on migration. He emphasised the need for the European Union to "re-establish a traditional migration relationship" with the UK, adding that British payments to France for preventing irregular migration cover only "a third of what we are spending."

The issue of migrants crossing the Channel has been a significant point of contention between Paris and London, especially in the post-Brexit era. Last year, Rishi Sunak made a deal with Macron to increase British payments for more French police along the coast, with London agreeing to provide 455 million pounds in total funding.

However, Darmanin expressed that the funding is insufficient to stem the flow of migrants, many of whom seek to reach Britain to reunite with families or "to work in conditions that would not be acceptable in France."

Starmer has reversed a plan by the previous Conservative government to send irregular migrants to a holding camp in Rwanda. The British government is now planning "a major surge" in the return of irregular migrants to countries like Iraq, according to an official statement on Thursday, as part of efforts to address the asylum backlog.

Both the French and British governments continue their efforts to dismantle the people-smuggling networks responsible for organising the crossings. Despite these efforts, Steve Smith, head of the Care4Calais charity, argued that investment in security measures is "not reducing crossings" and instead is pushing people to take "ever-increasing risks." He called for the introduction of safe routes to prevent further tragedies.

(With inputs from AFP)