Many migrants have drowned while trying to cross the English Channel to Britain, the French interior minister said, with reports that more than 20 people had died in a fatal crossing of small boats.
Gérald Darmanin he wrote on Twitter that he was “frightened” by the tragedy of the “many” who died after the collapse of a boat full of migrants on the Channel.
“We cannot fully condemn the crimes of smugglers who plan to cross these routes,” he wrote, adding that he was on his way to the scene.
The French news agency AFP has reportedly been told by police that more than 20 migrants have died.
This could be a major disaster as crossing small boats became a major migration route to the UK three years ago. The worst case scenario in the past was of to stop of four members of the Iranian Kurdish family in Calais in October last year.
Jean Castex, France’s prime minister, has called the blast a “catastrophe”. He said: “I think of the dead and the injured, the robbers who take advantage of their plight and problems.
Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, will preside over the COBR emergency committee meeting on Wednesday afternoon on the situation in the English Channel, Downing Street, he said.
The number of people who have sought refuge in the UK after crossing the Channel has arrived 25,700 this year so far, tripling the total 8,469 total for 2020.
There have been many reports of deaths. French officials also reported over the weekend that 31,500 migrants had left the coast of France for England since the beginning of the year. Of these, 7,800 were rescued and seven were killed or missing.
Two helicopters, one from France and one from the UK, and three French ships are involved in the rescue operation.
French authorities said they had been notified of the tragedy by boat crew members who had seen people at sea on the Dover-Calais River.
This year’s smugglers have started using larger boats, to accommodate more migrants. They have also begun to produce more beaches, sending their migrants longer, more dangerously to thwart the efforts of French authorities to stop them.
The migration of small boats has replaced the previous routes to the UK, such as hideout in cars, as careful monitoring of these routes has been enhanced.
There were a few small squirrels during the quiet season in the Channel Wednesday.
An increasing number of UK Border Force offenders were dropping off men, women and children arriving in Dover. Short, small boats loaded with small pistols from the ship’s hull were brought to shore.
Additional reports by Sebastian Payne
