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The sinking of a boat with migrants in the English Channel caused four deaths on Tuesday, including two children, according to a still provisional balance, increasing to seven the deaths that occurred in these waters this year.
A woman and two children, ages five and eight, are among the victims, according to French authorities.
Another 15 people were rescued and the searches continue through the night.
According to the testimonies of the migrants, “a person who could be a child is missing,” said the mayor of Loon-Plage, Hervé Tourmente, during a press conference.
The rest of the survivors, men, women and children of Iranian nationality, according to the first elements, “are in a state of hypothermia” including a “serious” case, having been distributed by the hospitals of Calais and Dunkerque.
The ship, apparently a tourist fishing boat, was described by an English sailor as capsized and sunk, after which a vast search operation was launched with six vessels and air assets.
The authorities are trying to “recover the maximum number of people” while the exact number of passengers has not yet been established, but according to Tourmente they are “19 or 20”, specifying that the weather conditions for the crossing “were not favorable.”
Today’s tragedy brings to seven the number of migrants who have died during an illegal crossing of the English Channel since the beginning of 2020, according to data reported by the authorities, after there were four deaths in 2019.
However, since 2018, crossing attempts have multiplied: between January 1 and August 31 of this year, 6,200 migrants tried their luck, in an inflatable boat for the richest, rowing, kayaking or simply on a buoy for others.
In 2019, 2,358 people who tried to cross were rescued and returned to the French or British coasts, up from 538 in 2018, according to figures from the French Channel and North Sea maritime authority.
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