Eight migrants tragically lost their lives when their clandestine boat sank off the coast of Pas-de-Calais on Saturday night

A tragic toll
The Prefect of the Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, described the tragedy as a ‘terrible toll’ at a press conference on Sunday 15 September. The shipwreck occurred during another attempt to cross the English Channel, near Ambleteuse, and comes just two weeks after another similar tragedy that claimed twelve victims on 3 September.

An overloaded and ill-equipped boat
The boat had set off from the La Slack area between Wimereux and Ambleteuse. According to initial analyses, the boat quickly got into difficulty and ran aground on a rocky point before tearing itself apart. The tragedy occurred shortly before midnight. According to the prefect, 59 people were on board, but only one in six was wearing a lifejacket. The rescue operation, involving 20 gendarmes, around fifty firefighters, a drone and 20 vehicles, took place in particularly difficult conditions in the middle of the night.

Victims and survivors
The eight people who died were adult men. Six survivors were taken to hospital, including a ten-month-old infant suffering from hypothermia. The other shipwrecked people, from several countries (Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran), were cared for by the Ambleteuse town hall.

A context of intensified crossings
Taking advantage of a favourable weather window, attempts to cross the Channel have increased over the last few days, with almost 200 migrants rescued at sea on the same Saturday in the region. Since the beginning of the year, the Prefect recalls that 46 migrants have lost their lives trying to reach England.

Investigation launched
The Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation, which has been entrusted to the gendarmerie maritime and the Office de lutte contre le trafic de migrants (OLTIM). Between 12 and 15 September, ten people smugglers were arrested in flagrante delicto, bringing the total to 238 arrests since the start of the year.

Reactions and criticism
This latest tragedy has sparked outrage. Yann Manzi, co-founder of the Utopia56 association, strongly condemned the inaction of the French and British governments: ‘These people smugglers are scoundrels, but so are our governments’. The association L’Auberge des Migrants also reacted, describing the Channel as a ‘murderous border’ and calling for urgent reform of migration policies. The associations stressed the urgent need to set up safe routes to England to avoid further tragedies as winter approaches.