CALAIS, FRANCE, Aug 12 (Reuters) – At least six people died and more than 50 were rescued after a migrant boat attempting to cross the English Channel from France capsized early on Saturday, local authorities said.
The town’s mayor, Franck Dhersin, said a vast rescue operation was launched around 0600 local time (0400 GMT), when dozens of migrant boats were trying to make the crossing at the same time.
“Several of the vessels were facing serious difficulties,” he told Reuters. “Unfortunately they found bodies near (the coastal town of) Sangatte.”
The maritime prefecture confirmed that there had been at least six deaths and said search and rescue operations were continuing.
The English Channel between France and Great Britain is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and the currents are strong, making it dangerous to travel in small boats.
People smugglers often overload the rickety inflatables, leaving them barely afloat and in danger of being battered by the waves as they try to reach British shores.
“We have saved 54 people, including a woman,” says Anne Thorel, a volunteer on one of the rescue boats, describing the frantic efforts of migrants to remove water from the sinking boat using their shoes.
“There were too many” on the boat, he told Reuters by phone as he headed back to shore.
Thorel, who shared a photo of the migrants on the rescue boat, wrapped in survival blankets, said no one died on the boat he was involved in rescuing.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Maritime Affairs Minister Herve Berville would head to Calais, near where one of the migrant boats capsized. “My thoughts are with the victims,” she posted on the X messaging platform, formerly known as Twitter.
Britain’s coastguard said it had sent a lifeboat from Dover to help with the rescue, along with a coastguard rescue team and ambulance crew.
A UK Border Force vessel and two lifeboats rescued all those aboard another small craft in the English Channel in a separate incident on Saturday, the British coastguard added.
British government figures show the number of crossings of the English Channel by migrants since the start of 2018 topped 100,000 this week. The figure so far this year stands at almost 16,000. (Reporting by Pascal Rossignol in Calais, Ingrid Melander, Tangi Salaun and Christian Hartmann in Paris, and David Miliken in London, Writing by Ingrid Melander, Editing in Spanish by Manuel Farías)
Source: Ambito
