Five People Dead in English Channel Small Boat Crossing

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Facts

• French authorities have announced that five individuals, including a seven-year-old girl, were killed attempting to cross the English Channel on Tuesday.¹
• Speaking to the press, Pas-de-Calais' prefect Jacques Billant confirmed that 112 migrants had attempted to cross the channel from the town of Wimereux at approximately 5:00 a.m. (local time).²
• The 'overloaded' boat was reported to have hit a sandbank, while also suffering engine failure 'a few hundred meters' from land according to Billant. Alongside the child, the deaths of three men and one woman were confirmed.³
• While 49 individuals were rescued, including four who were taken to hospital, the Coast Guard claimed that the remaining 58 individuals 'did not want to be rescued' and continued to the UK after restarting the engine.⁴
• On Wednesday, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) announced the arrests of three Sudanese men, aged 19 to 22, for potentially facilitating illegal immigration to the UK. The French police will also continue investigating the incident.⁵
• In 2023, over 29.4K people attempted to illegally enter the UK via small boats crossing the English Channel, down from a record high of nearly 45.8K the year prior. The latest data shows that, so far in 2024, nearly 6.3K have attempted to make the journey.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News (a), ²youtube.com, ³Evening Standard, ⁴reuters.com, ⁵NCA and ⁶BBC News (b).

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by The Mirror. Despite countless attempts to convince Sunak and his Tory government that an expensive plan to send a small number of asylum seekers to Rwanda will not deter the tens of thousands who risk their lives to enter the UK, the Prime Minister continues to ignore reality. The longer the UK fails to confront criminal gangs and provide safe routes across the channel for those in need, the more migrants will die.
• Right narrative, as provided by The Telegraph. Despite claiming they had never seen so many migrants on a single boat, French authorities were more than happy to escort 58 individuals across the English Channel. While an effective deterrent by the UK is yet to be established, reports imply that France not only made a minimal effort to halt the tragedies, but rather actively encouraged the misfortune.