death of a migrant while crossing the English Channel
Two months after the tragic death of 27 migrants off Calais, an exile lost his life again on Friday January 14 while trying to reach England. According to the first elements, the victim is a young man in his twenties of Sudanese nationality, said the deputy prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Philippe Sabatier. A manslaughter investigation has been opened.
→ ANALYZE. The first migrants of the year have arrived in Britain
The deceased migrant had taken to the sea off the beaches of Berck-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) with thirty other exiles, who were all rescued ” safe and sound “, according to a press release from the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Prémar). Twenty-five of them were towed into their boat by a rescue boat. Five others were “recovered from a sandbar by firefighters”. According to a source close to the investigation, they could have been trapped by the tide.
“Resources would remain committed in the area to provide assistance to people who find themselves in difficulty”, underlines the Prémar. But “after investigation by air”, nobody ” adrift “ has not been revealed.
A record number of crossings in 2021
This death of a migrant is the first in the Channel in 2022. The Prémar report in 2021 reports 30 dead and four missing, including 27 migrants who died on November 24 when their boat sank off Calais, the worst tragedy occurred on this migratory route. This has not limited attempted crossings, carried out by increasingly professional networks of smugglers. “There was no sinking effect”, a summary of the public prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Guirec Le Bras.
→ REREAD. In Calais, mourning and anger after the sinking and death of 27 migrants
Crossings of the English Channel in small boats reached a record number in 2021, at more than 28,000 people, according to the British press agency PA. Despite the winter temperatures, crossing attempts, which had peaked in the fall, continued in this maritime sector, one of the busiest in the world, with 400 boats daily in the strait.
On Thursday, 60 shipwrecked people were again taken care of off Dunkirk and Calais during two rescue operations, according to Prémar. In December 2021 alone, 130 “events” were reported, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture: 72 attempted crossings intercepted by the French authorities and 58 crossings arriving in Great Britain. A year earlier, 44 “events”, i.e. three times less, were modified: 28 attempted crossings intercepted and 16 arrivals in England.