(Calais) La Manche, a new “open grave”: 27 immigrants died Wednesday, sending a wave of shock to Paris as they tried to cross the British coast near the starting point, Calais, in northern France. And London after several weeks of tension.
“France will not allow the English Channel to be turned into a cemetery,” President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, adding that 31 people had died on Thursday, 27 before that and two were reduced by the French Ministry of Defense.
The French head of state called for an “emergency meeting of European ministers on the immigration challenge” and promised that “everything will be done to find and condemn those responsible for the shipwreck.”
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has promised to do “more” with France to encourage the channel’s illegal crossings, “with shock, outrage and deep regret”. But his government seems to be drowning in a continual explosion.
During a telephone interview on Wednesday evening, MM. A British spokesman said Johnson and Macron “agreed in a hurry to step up their joint efforts to prevent these shortcuts and to prevent the gangs from endangering lives.”
They stressed the “importance of close cooperation with Belgium and its Dutch neighbors and allies on the continent.”
After weeks of tension over the issue of migration, London and Paris have already stepped up their cooperation in trying to prevent these departures, especially in the wake of the arrival of 1,185 migrants on the English coast on 11 November.
This tragedy, which officials and unions have feared for months, has been in use since the channel’s emigration shortcuts rose in 2018, in the face of increasing locks at the Port of Galilee and the Channel Tunnel. Immigrants are trying to reach England.
“Strong emotion”
Rescue ships carrying the victims anchored in Galilee in the evening, where a hangar was opened in the harbor to house the bodies.
The remains should be transferred to the Lily Forensic Institute for autopsy. The investigation was opened for “irregular entry and stay in an organized group”, “murder and accidental injuries” and “criminal conspiracy”.
Four kidnappers suspected of being involved in the tragedy have been arrested, according to Interior Minister Gerald Dorman.
Prior to the sinking, three people had died and four were missing since the beginning of the year.
Mr. Thurman took to Twitter to denounce the “criminal nature of the kidnappers who organized these shortcuts” and called for a “very harsh international response.”
The play took place on a “long boat” which is an inflatable boat with a flexible bottom that folds when it takes water and is loaded with heavy loads, we learned from the rescuers.
The use of especially dangerous and poor quality boats has been on the rise frequently since this summer.
Three helicopters and three boats took part in the search, according to the channel and the maritime region of the North Sea. A source close to the matter said there were about fifty people on board the boat that left Dunkirk.
“People are dying in the channel that turns into an open-air graveyard like the Mediterranean,” said Pierre Roques, coordinator of the Auberge des Migrants in Calais.
In the evening about fifty people gathered near the port. “Thurman, murderer, there is blood on your hands,” they especially chanted.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has described the incident as “shocking and distressing” and “a concerted and concerted effort only”. […] More tragedies will be prevented. ”
The “bad work” of the kidnappers
Didier Lecchi, director general of the French Immigration Office, condemned the kidnappers, saying “immigrants are trying at all costs to maintain camps near the sea to facilitate the sick work of crossing the English Channel, their dangers and dangers”.
Canal and North Sea maritime officer Philip Tudriux warned last Friday that efforts to migrate through the canal in small boats have doubled in the past three months.
As of November 20, 31,500 migrants have fled the coast and 7,800 have been rescued, he said. A trend that has not abated despite the winter temperatures, he had noticed.
According to London, 22,000 migrants passed through the first ten months of the year.
