31 migrants drown in English Channel boat sinking

31 migrants drown in English Channel boat sinking

 

French interior minister calls incident a ‘grand national grief for France, Europe and humanity.’

 

BY THIBAULT SPIRLET AND PIERRE-PAUL BERMINGHAM

November 24, 2021 7:13 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/migrant-crisis-france-uk-calais-north-sea-channel-boris-johnson/

 

Thirty-one migrants drowned Wednesday when their boat capsized off the French port of Calais as they tried to cross the English Channel to the U.K., French authorities have confirmed.

 

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said five women and a child were among the dead, while two people have been rescued and are being treated. The search for other survivors continues.

 

Helicopters and boats were dispatched to the scene, with French maritime authorities saying in a statement: “The operation is currently still ongoing and several survivors have been recovered.”

 

A fisherman alerted the local authorities to around 15 bodies floating off Calais at 2 p.m., French news agency AFP reported.

 

The incident comes amid bitter disagreement between France and the U.K. about halting the flow of Channel crossings as rising numbers of people attempt the perilous journey across the major shipping route.

 

More than 23,000 people have crossed to the U.K. by boat this year so far, a sharp rise on the 8,400 who traveled in 2020.

 

Speaking from Calais, Darmanin condemned people smugglers, describing them as the “first people responsible” for the tragedy. He said authorities had arrested four people suspected of being linked to the incident.

 

“It is a grand national grief for France, Europe and humanity to see these people perish at sea because of these smugglers,” he added. In a statement reported by AFP, French President Emmanuel Macron asked for “an emergency meeting of EU ministers concerned by the migratory challenge,” and called for the “immediate reinforcement” of EU border agency Frontex.

 

“Everything will be put in place to find and convict those responsible,” he said.

 

‘Step up’

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking ahead of an emergency meeting on the incident, denied that the deaths in the Channel marked a failure of U.K. government policy — and urged Europe to engage in solutions.

 

“This disaster underscores how dangerous it is to cross the Channel in this way and it also shows how vital it is that we now step up our efforts to break the business model of the gangsters who are sending people to sea in this way,” he said.

 

Johnson added: “Of course we have to work with our French friends, with our European partners, and I say to our partners across the Channel: Now it is the time for us all to step up, to work together, to do everything that we can to break these gangs which are literally getting away with murder.

 

“We have had difficulties persuading some of our partners, particularly the French, to do things in a way that we think the situation deserves.”

 

Didier Leschi, director of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii), arrived in Calais in the wake of the incident, where he told French media: “This is a terrible tragedy, I am horrified.”

 

As a former Calais migrant mediator, he said the main problem is the “lack of care and support for these people,” which facilitates “smugglers’ morbid work.”

 

Nick Thomas-Symonds, shadow home secretary for the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party, meanwhile said it was “a sobering day for the U.K. government, France and the wider international community.” He added: “Lives have been lost in the most terrible of circumstances.”

 

Cristina Gallardo contributed reporting. This story has been updated to correct the timeframe for a U.K. emergency meeting.