Following the sinking of a boat transporting migrants in the English Channel, at least six people have perished and more than 50 have been saved.
After the ship encountered trouble off the coast of Sangatte on Saturday morning, British and French coastguards engaged in a significant effort.
According to survivors’ stories, some 65 individuals are believed to have boarded the boat; two are still presumed missing at sea, according to France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
Six were found in critical condition, and one was airlifted to a hospital in Calais where he was pronounced dead.
The other five, who were brought in by boat, had already passed away, according to an amended statement.
The first report of a vessel sinking near Calais in the early hours of Saturday came from a passing ship at about 4.20am, according to the prefecture.
According to the French police, it was one of many migrant boats that departed between Friday night and Saturday morning with the intention of reaching the British shore.
Then, a French ship used optronic technology to detect a boat and drew near to start rescue efforts using a 25-person life raft and a rigid inflatable boat (Rib).
In the hours that followed, two British vessels and an aircraft from the French Navy were sent out with their assistance.
A British chartered ship and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crew helped save and deliver 22 individuals to Dover.
More information will be given when HM Coastguard has a coordinated response in place.
Along with the five fatalities, at least 36 survivors were gathered by French vessels and sent to the port of Calais.
Later on Saturday morning, Home Secretary Suella Braverman presided over a meeting with Border Force representatives and referred to the occurrence as a “tragic loss of life”.
She is being informed of the most recent changes to the operation.
“These deaths are devastating, and our thoughts are with the victims’ families and friends at this difficult time,” a representative for the UK government said.
“This incident is sadly yet another reminder of the great risks involved in using small boats to cross the English Channel and highlights how crucial it is that we disrupt the people smugglers’ economic model and stop the boats.”
According to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), paramedics from South East Coast Ambulance and rescue teams from Folkestone and Langdon Bay have also been dispatched to the scene.
Along with many boats and merchant ships, a British-chartered ship, the UK Coastguard, and a French Navy helicopter, assistance had been dispatched.
In addition, the prosecutor’s office in Boulogne has launched an inquiry.
It comes after 755 individuals crossed the English Channel in tiny boats on Thursday, marking the highest day total thus far in 2018. This confirmed that the overall number had surpassed 100,000 for the year.
According to Home Office statistics, 6 boats carrying about 343 individuals were spotted crossing the Channel on Friday.
It indicates that more than 1,000 traveled over two days, bringing the year’s preliminary total to more over 16,000 thus far.
The statistics on Thursday were released as another significant search and rescue operation was conducted following the recovery of 17 migrants who had gone overboard.
According to the Home Office, they were all brought onshore for medical evaluations.
Campaigners claimed that the incident demonstrated the need of providing safe entryways into the UK for refugees.
The Refugee Council encouraged the Government to concentrate on developing a “orderly and humane asylum system,” while Care4Calais called the occurrence a “appalling and preventable tragedy.”
Paul O’Connor, the Public and Commercial Services union’s director of negotiations, claimed that the government had “blood on its hands” and had “no desire” to stop the perilous crossings.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, declared that stopping travelers and “the terrible criminal smuggling gangs who profit while lives are lost” is “desperately” required.
The event, according to Dover’s Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke, strengthened the case for combined Channel patrols.
“Today’s tragedy underscores why we must stop the small boats to keep people safe and stop loss of life in the Channel,” she said in a statement to the PA news agency.
The French authorities should, of course, prevent these overloaded, unseaworthy deathtraps from ever reaching the French shore in the first place.
Before any more lives are lost, the time has come for coordinated patrols on the French coast and a cross-Channel security zone.
Following the deportation of asylum seekers aboard the Bibby Stockholm barge due to the finding of Legionella bacteria in the water supply on Friday, the government came under pressure.
All 39 people on board have been moved to alternate accommodations until health inspections are done. The yacht had been advertised as an alternative to accommodating refugees in pricey hotels.
Tim Loughton, a fellow Conservative backbencher, called the disembarkation a “embarrassment,” while senior Conservative MP David Davis claimed it demonstrated the “startling incompetence” of the Home Office.
The Home Office stated that everyone on board was healthy and that the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers “remains of the utmost priority” and that the evacuation was a precaution.