Five migrants have died after trying to reach Britain from northern France despite freezing temperatures, the French maritime authority said.
The group was trying to reach a ship at Wimereux, south of Calais, when they ran into trouble at around 0200 GMT today, the maritime prefecture told AFP.
“We have four dead migrants and one migrant in critical condition in hospital in Boulogne-sur-mer,” an official said on Sunday morning.
Just after noon, a fifth migrant was confirmed dead. These are the first reported deaths of migrants across the Channel in 2024.
The five migrants who died and the one in intensive care were believed to be from Iraq and Syria, an emergency services source said.
Wimereux beach, northern France. Five migrants have died after trying to reach Britain from northern France. The group was trying to reach a ship off the coast of Wimereux today when they ran into trouble around 0200 GMT, the maritime prefecture said.
Wimereux beach, northern France. According to French media, the migrants tried to reach a boat in icy water
In a separate incident, the first migrants to cross the English Channel into Britain in 2024 were taken to Dover, Kent, on board a Border Force ship on Saturday, January 13.
Local newspaper La Voix du Nord said about 70 people tried to get into the small boat and dozens of people were pulled from the cold water during overnight rescue efforts in Wimereux.
Among those rescued were mothers and children suffering from hypothermia.
The crew of a French towing vessel, the Abeille Normandie, responded and saw “unconscious and lifeless people” in the water, an official said, estimating the water temperature was nine degrees Celsius.
The rescue operation involved a naval helicopter, police and fifty firefighters.
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron said today’s reported migrant deaths in the Channel were ‘heartbreaking’.
He told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: ‘It’s heartbreaking when these things happen, and the loss of life that comes with it.
‘And you can’t help but think what a horrible end it would be, and the cold water of the Channel in the middle of the night, it breaks my heart to hear about it.
“But it just shows that we have to stop the boats, we have to stop this illegal human trafficking.”
The former prime minister argued the solution is to forcibly remove unauthorized arrivals in Rwanda, with Rishi Sunak’s bill to revive the stalled policy returning to the House of Commons for crucial votes this week.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron appears on ‘Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg’ in London, January 14, 2024
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer described the incident as a ‘tragic loss of life’ but disputed the resolution.
‘I don’t know the details, in a sense we don’t need to know the details. To lose your life in a small dinghy or boat in the winter sea of the Channel is simply devastating,” he told the BBC.
But on the Rwanda plan championed by Lord Cameron, he said: ‘I think he’s wrong about that.
‘I absolutely agree that we need to stop these Channel crossings.
‘They are dangerous, we have lost control of our borders and we have to do something to stop the boats.
“Now I think the starting point for that is to go after the criminal gangs that run this despicable business.”
The first migrants to cross the Channel into Britain this year were recorded on Saturday morning after 27 days without a crossing – the longest gap in small boat arrivals in just over five years.
According to Home Office figures, no arrivals had been recorded since December 16, with bad weather possibly contributing to the lack of activity at sea.
However, the calm period eased on Saturday, with Wimereux mayor Jean-Luc Debaele commenting: ‘There is no wind, the sea is calm even though the water is ice cold. We’ll be on watch all weekend.”
The 27-day period without crossings is the longest since a 48-day break between September 2 and October 19, 2018, government data shows.
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