The Ministry of Defense in London announced on Sunday that 915 people in 19 small boats were apprehended after the crossing on Saturday. This means that more than 25,000 people have dared the dangerous journey this year, 8,747 in August alone. The record from the whole of 2021 should soon be surpassed. At that time, a total of 28,526 people crossed the English Channel.
The crossings, which have increased since Brexit and the corona pandemic, partly due to stricter controls on land routes, are a thorn in the side of the conservative government in London. Gaining control of one’s own borders was one of the central promises of the EU exit campaign. London therefore wants to fly certain asylum seekers of different nationalities to Rwanda. The United Nations see a breach of international law in the controversial pact with the East African country. In November 2021, a tragic accident occurred in the English Channel: 27 people died after their rubber dinghy capsized. The English Channel is one of the busiest waterways in the world.
Scores of migrants rescued in the Mediterranean
The private aid organization SOS Méditerranée has saved other boat migrants from drowning in several operations in the central Mediterranean. The crew of the “Ocean Viking” have almost 470 rescued people on board, as the organization announced on Twitter on Sunday night. The volunteers got people on board from overcrowded wooden and rubber boats in the Maltese search and rescue zone.
valletta Many were physically exhausted, some had been out on the open sea without life jackets. Meanwhile, the German organization Resqship was waiting with its motorsailer “Nadir” and almost 60 rescued migrants on board to a safe haven. The civil sea rescuers warned in a tweet that their boat was not designed to take care of so many people. The “Nadir” had saved the people on Friday. She usually reaches migrant boats in distress, alerts the authorities or other aid organizations with larger ships.
Also underway are the “Geo Barents” from Doctors Without Borders and the newly put to sea “Humanity 1” from the German organization SOS Humanity. the migrants mostly set off from the shores of North Africa for the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean to reach the EU, where they hope for a better life.
Source: Nachrichten
