According to the authorities, a boat transporting migrants capsized within the English Channel, resulting in the deaths of six individuals, while another two people may still be missing.
The French police in the area said that the boat capsized with 65 or 66 persons on board, according to the statements of those who survived the sinking. They further mentioned that approximately 20 persons were transported to Dover by British police.
The image was posted to Twitter by the mayor of the town, Franck Dhersin, and shows a number of the rescued migrants sitting on the deck of a rescue vessel that is wrapped with gold metal blankets.
“Yet another tragedy has occurred off the coastline of Calais/Wissant, with several migrants losing their lives at sea. On the social media platform X, which was once known as Twitter, he said that “one day, we may be forced to cease just keeping track of the number of fatalities in the Channel along with the Mediterranean.”
The English Channel constitutes one of the busiest waterways in the world, and crossing it in a vessel that is not very large is fraught with peril.
Vessels used in human trafficking are frequently overcrowded, which increases the risk of passengers drowning in the ocean.
One of the most important goals of the government of the United Kingdom under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative Party has been trailing in the polls, is to prevent boats from making the dangerous journey over the English Channel.
However, according to numbers released by the government on Thursday, 755 migrants were spotted crossing the channel into the UK. The number represents the biggest total for a single day recorded so far in this year.
Figures reveal that as of this week, approximately 16,000 migrants have traversed the Channel in 2019, making the total number of migrants who have traversed the Channel throughout 2018 to 100,000.
Legionella bacteria were found to be present in the water on a contentious boat that was intended to host hundreds of people. As a result, 39 people seeking asylum were evacuated from the barge on Friday.
After the United Kingdom agreed in March to transfer France thousands of millions of euros on a yearly basis, the French authorities have increased their patrols and taken other preventative steps.
