NEUFCHTEL HARDELOT: According to French officials, a migrant lost his life on Wednesday while attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, increasing the total number of fatalities this year associated with overloaded dinghies to 57.
Activists claim that traffickers are now forcing greater numbers of migrants seeking a better life in the UK into increasingly dangerous vessels as British and French officials attempt to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.
According to the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea, the deceased guy was one of about 15 who fell into the sea off Hardelot in northern France.
The migrant was taken to land by helicopter and pronounced deceased. The individual, according to fire chief Baptiste Gournay, was 28 years old.
A total of 61 individuals were saved, five of whom were also transported to the hospital and one of whom had a very serious condition. Following a second rescue effort off the coast of Merlimont, about 20 kilometers to the south, Gournay said three more migrants were fighting for their lives.
According to the prefecture, a lot of people attempted to cross during the night and early in the morning because of the favorable weather. A journalist discovered a deflated blue and black dinghy on the Hardelot beach on Wednesday morning.
Rescue personnel had been stationed on the shore, including flashing fire trucks. About 20 refugees were escorted by rescuers into an adjacent building so they could warm up.
Journalists spotted six drenched refugees sitting on a bench about three kilometers from the coast, several of them covered in survival blankets. Several people were experiencing “severe hypothermia” after falling into the sea, according to a representative of the Utopia 56 charity that aids migrants.
