24 apr 2024 om 16:12
The British investigation service NCA arrested three men on Wednesday after a fatal accident a day earlier involving a migrant boat off the French coast. Dozens of people fell into the water during the incident. Five people, including a young girl, were killed.
The arrested men are suspected of facilitating illegal immigration and illegally crossing the border between France and the UK. The trio will be questioned in the coming days. According to the NCA, the suspects are two Sudanese men aged 22 and 19 and a 22-year-old South Sudanese.
The boat carrying 112 migrants was trying to cross the Channel between France and the United Kingdom. The vessel struck a sandbank just off the French coast near Wimereux.
Panic broke out and many migrants fell into the water. Five people were killed. French authorities rescued 47 people from the sea and brought them to Boulogne. Some other victims had to be treated in a hospital.
The other 55 people still on the boat did not want to be rescued. The group arrived at Dover, a port of the UK, later in the day.
Including Tuesday’s victims, fifteen people are known to have died this year in an illegal attempt to cross the Channel to England. According to the Missing Migrants Project, that is as many as in all of 2023.
British parliament passed controversial immigration law this week
On the night of Monday to Tuesday, after a long political tug-of-war, the British Parliament passed a law that, according to the government, would deter migrants from sailing to England in boats. The law makes it possible to deport these boat refugees to Rwanda without further procedures. That country then receives money for it.
Commenting on the events at Wimereux, British Home Secretary James Cleverly said this shows the need for action. He refers to the recently adopted controversial anti-migration law.
