At least 27 migrants heading to the UK die in a shipwreck

At least 27 migrants crossing the English Channel bound for the United Kingdom have died this Wednesday in a shipwreck near the costa of calais (northern France), as reported by the French authorities. The security forces are looking for survivors and do not rule out finding more deceased.

At the moment the details of the accident are not known nor have the nationalities of the victims been disclosed, but the investigation process has begun. The shipwreck occurred at a time of full migration crisis in the Calais area and its surroundings, which was reactivated after the peaks of 2015 and 2016. In the first 10 months of this year they tried to cross the Canal de la A total of 24,655 people traveled by sea to reach the United Kingdom, when in all of 2020 there had been 9,551. The French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, He has described what happened as a “tragedy”. “I direct my thoughts to the many missing and wounded, victims of criminal traffickers who exploit the despair and misery of the immigrants, “he wrote on his Twitter profile. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has traveled to Calais.

Migratory flow

The recent increase in this flow of migrants, many coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Eritrea, it has led, for example, to the dismantling last week of a network dedicated to the trafficking of immigrants in the English Channel, which resulted in the arrest of 15 people. On the other hand, in a decision that reflects the migratory tension between the two borders, the chain of sports equipment establishments Decathlon withdrew recreational boats from sale in several stores in northern France to prevent them from being used by migrants in their attempt to get to the UK.

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It is estimated that some 2,000 people, Among them, at least 300 unaccompanied children have been living in and around Calais camps since mid-2021, according to humanitarian organizations. Several hundred more, including many families with children, are in the Grande-Synthe forest, next to the town of Dunkirk.

A little over a month ago, at the beginning of October, the organization Human Rights Watch denounced the conditions in which these migrants from the French border with the United Kingdom find themselves and the degrading treatment to which they are subjected by French agents. “When the police arrive, we have five minutes to leave the tent before they destroy everything. It is not possible for five people, including children, to get dressed in a tent in five minutes,” reflects the NGO in its report. echo of the statements of a Kurdish woman.