At least five people, including a four-year-old girl, have died in their attempt to cross the English Channel, the strait that separates France from the United Kingdom, according to police, hours after the British Parliament approved the law. that will deport the migrants to Rwanda. The bodies of the migrants were found on Wimereaux beach, in northern France, early this Tuesday, according to local media.
The police, the French coast guard and firefighters have participated in a rescue operation in front of this beach, located in the Pas de Calais, with at least three helicopters and several boats. One of the survivors rescued on the beach is the father of a four-year-old girl who was found in critical condition, but ended up dying during the morning, according to the regional newspaper La Voix du Nord. The other victims are three men between 25 and 40 years old and a woman, between 30 and 35 years old, according to firefighters.
They were on a small boat with more than 110 people on board that set sail at five in the morning this Tuesday from Wimereux beach, according to the French prefecture. The boat was stranded on a sandbank, but was able to put out to sea again. "Apparently there was a crowd movement on the overloaded ship, which caused several victims," reports the same source. The attempted crossing took place in calm seas and clear weather, but a temperature just a few degrees above zero.
So far, a hundred migrants have been rescued and embarked aboard a French navy ship, La Voix du Nord reported. They have been taken to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, a few kilometers south of Wimereux, rescuers reported.
This fateful crossing attempt comes hours after the British Parliament approved British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda instead of remaining in the United Kingdom for processing.
The British government hopes its law will act as a deterrent to migrants who risk their lives in inflatable boats in the hope of being able to claim asylum once they reach British soil. But human rights groups have described the legislation as inhumane and cruel and the Supreme Court ruled against the strategy in November, ruling that Rwanda was not a safe country.
With this tragedy, at least fifteen people have lost their lives trying to cross the English Channel since the beginning of 2024, according to a count by France Presse. This figure is already higher than that of 2023, when twelve immigrants died in the same circumstances, according to the Maritime Prefecture of the English Channel and the North Sea.
