One person is dead and another is critically injured after a boat carrying more than 60 migrants sank in the Channel near France during the course of Thursday and Friday night as they attempted to reach Britain, according to French maritime authorities.
According to the authorities, of the 66 individuals who were found, “one unconscious victim, in critical condition, was taken by helicopter to the hospital in Calais,” and another “could not be revived.”
It was discovered throughout the night that a migrant boat was having problems less than eight kilometers (five miles) from the coast, alerting the French sea rescue coordinators at Griz Nez, close to Calais.
About 30 minutes after midnight (2330 GMT), a rescue vessel arrived in the region, according to maritime authorities.
The crew returned to Calais with everyone they could find after discovering that one of the migrant boat’s buoyancy tubes had “deflated” and that individuals were “in the water.”
There are still boats and planes searching for survivors, and Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister of France, is scheduled to arrive in Calais on Friday morning.
The risky small-boat passage of the English Channel from France by tens of thousands of people annually has made the problem a political priority for the British government and a point of conflict between London and Paris.
There has been a significant loss of life; two years ago, one of the worst-ever sinkings claimed the lives of 27 people.
A man and woman drowned after a migrant boat carrying sixty passengers sank in late November.
Additionally, six Afghans perished in August of this year after their little boat overturned.
According to French officials, the average number of passengers on boats is almost twice as high as it was two years ago, with an average of 53.
According to British official statistics through the end of November, over 28,000 migrants had crossed the Channel since the beginning of this year, up from nearly 46,000 during the same period previous year.
AFP
