It's a record. 4,192 migrants attempted to cross the Channel between January 1 and July 31, 2020. The maritime prefecture recorded 342 attempts or crossings. Over the whole of 2019, it had recorded 203 attempts involving 2,294 migrants.
"There was an increase in the number of attempts during the confinement period and in July, because the weather conditions were good," a spokesperson for the maritime prefecture told 20 minutes . "The phenomenon appeared in 2016, we had a peak at the end of 2018, a clear increase in 2019 and we are going up a notch in 2020", contextualizes this same source.
The maritime prefecture points out that “the Channel and the North Sea are seas where navigation is difficult, with a high concentration of maritime traffic, strong currents and winds and very low water temperature. "The authorities are therefore trying to" prevent any dangerous crossing. "
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