Again people lose their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea and the English Channel. The decision-makers quickly identify the culprits – and get into trouble themselves.
Several migrants have again died in overnight boat accidents in the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea. Six people died attempting to cross the Channel from France to Britain. According to French prosecutors, they were all Afghan nationals. There was another fatal accident off the Mediterranean coast of Tunisia, in which a baby and a 20-year-old man died, according to the Tunisian National Guard. In both cases, several people continued to be missing as of Sunday.
Again and again migrants try to cross the English Channel to Great Britain in small inflatable boats. The crossing is dangerous, mainly because the estuary is used by many large ships. In the process, people are still dying.
The boat got into distress and sank near the northern French city of Calais on Saturday night. More than 50 people were rescued by French and British forces.
Quick blame
The culprits for the renewed accident were quickly identified on both sides of the canal. “Behind this human drama are smugglers, criminals,” said French Secretary of State for the Sea Hervé Berville on BFMTV. These sent women, young people and adults to their deaths. The UK government said: “This incident is sadly yet another reminder of the extreme dangers of crossing the English Channel in small boats and the importance of breaking the business model of people smugglers and stopping the boats.”
The British government of Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is coming under further pressure to get the Canal crossings under control. Sunak has long tried to discourage migrants – so far without success. There was also recent trouble with a controversial domestic measure: 39 migrants had to be brought from a barge in Portland, southern England, on Friday after legionella levels were found in water samples, which made further investigations necessary.
Tunisia also recorded another boat accident on Saturday night. The boat sank near the town of Gabes, where 13 people were rescued while five remained missing on Sunday. All migrants on board were from Tunisia.
Very many people are currently daring to make the life-threatening Mediterranean crossing to Italy from Tunisia in often unseaworthy boats – the North African state is now considered the most important transit country for migrants on their way to Europe. The Tunisian Ministry of the Interior counted 900 fatalities by the end of July alone, who died in boat accidents off the coast of the country this year. Dozens of deaths were added in August.
Hundreds of other people dared to make the highly dangerous crossing over the weekend: almost 1,000 migrants reached the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa from Saturday to Sunday, as reported by the Ansa news agency. The Ministry of the Interior in Rome counted more than 96,300 people who reached Italy by boat this year.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
