LONDON: According to the French marine authority, four migrants perished overnight and a fifth was in critical condition on Sunday after attempting to reach Britain from northern France despite frigid weather.
The trio was attempting to reach a vessel off the coast of Wimereux when their small boat became stuck at 2 a.m. (0100 GMT), according to the maritime prefecture.
Also Read: Denmark awaits new king, as Queen Margrethe to bow out
“We have four dead migrants and one migrant in a critical condition at the hospital in Boulogne-sur-mer,” a government official said.
A tugboat patrolling the shore responded and discovered the remains, which were the first documented migrant deaths on the Channel in 2024.
Calais, the starting point for the shortest crossing to England, has long been a magnet for migrants.
Hundreds of people still live in tents and temporary shelters near Calais and Dunkirk, hoping to make the crossing hidden in a truck or aboard a small boat, more than two decades after a Red Cross center in Sangatte was closed.
The boats are a political priority for the British government and a source of tension with France, as tens of thousands of people make the perilous voyage each year.
According to the British authorities, approximately 30,000 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats from mainland Europe to Britain in 2023, a decline of more than a third from the previous year.
At least 27 individuals drowned after their watercraft sank in November 2021.
