Migrants drowned in the Channel: the investigation into the sinking is progressing

French policemen around migrants arrested near the coast of Calais by the maritime gendarmerie as they tried to cross the Channel (Photo of illustration).

BERNARD BARRON / AFP

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We now know a little more about the sinking of a migrant boat in the English Channel, which took place on Tuesday, October 27.

According to the French authorities, who are still conducting the investigation, it claimed the lives of four members of an Iranian Kurdish family, as well as two other passengers.

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A whole family was swept away in the waters between France and the United Kingdom.

The parents and their two children, 8 and 6, who came from western Iran, were found dead.

The third, a one-year-old child, is still missing.

These victims were trapped in the cockpit, when the motor fishing boat carrying them capsized and sank.

It is the worst migratory drama to have occurred so far in the waters of the Channel.

Trying to identify the pilot of the boat

Fourteen of the fifteen survivors, all adults or adolescents over 16, were interviewed in France.

The last one is still being treated.

Investigators seek to identify the pilot of the boat, a man who faces prosecution for manslaughter and involuntary violence.

The attempts to cross the Channel have been increasing since 2018. Between January and the end of August this year, 6,200 people tried this passage, according to official figures.

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