Calais: At least 27 migrants died crossing from France to England when their boat sank off the port of Calais, French authorities said, the deadliest disaster since the Channel became a major part of the migrant route.
The French interior ministry said in a statement that patrol vessels found corpses and people unconscious in the water after a fisherman sounded the alarm.
French police then said that 27 people had died after setting out from Dunkirk east of Calais in a boat with some 50 people on board.
Three helicopters and three boats took part in the search, local authorities said. French prosecutors have opened a manslaughter probe. On the other side of the Channel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a crisis meeting.
“I am shocked, appalled and deeply saddened by the loss of life at sea,” he said.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who is heading to the scene, wrote on Twitter that “many people” had died in the incident, adding that “the criminal nature of the smugglers who organise these crossings cannot be condemned enough”.
“The disaster in the Channel is a tragedy,” Prime Minister Jean Castex tweeted.
“My thoughts are with the many missing and injured, victims of criminal smugglers who exploit their distress and misery.”
The disaster, the worst single loss of life since at least 2018 when migrant began using boats en masse to cross the Channel, comes as tensions grow between London and Paris over the record numbers of people crossing. Britain has urged tougher action from France to stop migrants from making the voyage. AFP
