It is a new tragedy in the English Channel: four dead, including two children aged 5 and 8, lost their lives after the sinking of their boat on its way to the English coast, the North Prefecture reported on Tuesday 27 October.
Warned in the morning, the emergency services had first discovered the body of a man and tried to revive three people in cardio-respiratory arrest, who finally succumbed.
Fifteen survivors - men, women and children of Iranian nationality, according to the first elements - were distributed in the hospitals of Calais and Dunkirk, including a man in absolute emergency, but whose vital prognosis is no longer engaged.
An infant may be missing
The boat, apparently a fishing boat, had been reported turning and sinking around 9:30 a.m., in heavy weather, by an English yachtsman, triggering a vast search operation, which mobilized six boats and three air assets.
The search was stopped at nightfall, without having made it possible to find other possible castaways, indicated the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
At midday, the sub-prefect, Hervé Tourmente, had indicated that the exact number of passengers remained to be specified, "from 19 to 20".
According to testimonies from survivors, an infant could have disappeared, he added during a press briefing.
Bad sea
British Home Secretary Priti Patel expressed her sadness for this tragedy, which "highlights the dangers" of migratory crossings through the Channel.
"I will do everything in my power to prevent unscrupulous criminals from exploiting vulnerable people," she added.
This heavy toll brings to seven the number of people who have died during an irregular crossing of the Channel since the beginning of 2020, according to official figures, after four deaths recorded in 2019.
On October 18, a man was found dead on a beach in Sangatte, where another man had been discovered two months earlier.
Another victim, male, was found in May 2020 in the port of Calais.
The thirty kilometers that separate the French Opal Coast from the cliffs of Dover, visible on a clear day, are renowned as one of the busiest and most dangerous sea routes in the world.
"Leave by all means"
However, since 2018, attempts to cross have multiplied.
Between January 1 and August 31, 6,200 migrants, according to the maritime prefecture, tried their luck, on an inflatable boat for the better-off, a paddle, a kayak, or even a simple buoy.
Candidates for the passage continue to flow to Calais and Grande-Synthe, where their makeshift camps are regularly evacuated by the prefectures of Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
"They are ready to leave by any means, as the reception conditions are appalling in France", regretted to AFP Claire Millot, of the Salam association.
"It is impossible for them to apply for asylum in France, since most of them have had their fingerprints registered in other European countries. In England, it is easier to work illegally, to find accommodation," then " they are risking their lives, ”she said.
The NGO Save the Children, for its part, called on the French and British governments to cooperate to provide "safe and legal roads to desperate families fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty".
La Manche "must not become a cemetery for children," she stressed.
In 2019, 2,358 people were rescued and then brought back to the French or British coasts, compared to 586 in 2018.
With AFP
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR