CALAIS: Two migrants died on Sunday in the Channel off the northern coast of France trying to reach Britain by boat, French maritime authorities said.

The new drownings near the French city of Calais mean nine people have lost their life attempting the dangerous sea crossing this month alone, and 25 since the start of the year.

A boat was signalled as being in distress on Sunday morning at sea between Calais and Dunkirk and “two people were declared dead”, the maritime authorities said.

The vessel in trouble 10 kilometres north of Calais had 56 migrants on board, said Jacques Billant, prefect of the Pas-de-Calais department. Among the 54 surviving passengers, and another 50 people from another boat who were rescued, five were receiving medical care, he said.

In 2023, 12 migrants had died at sea trying to reach what they hoped would be a better life in Britain, according to the French authorities. The death toll this year has already surpassed that, with 25 migrants who have lost their lives since January, Billant said.

He said those crossing the sea often did so “without a lifejacket”, on “vessels of very poor quality because not inflated enough and often without a solid bottom... or decent engine”.

A non-governmental organi­sation called L’Auberge des Migrants

(“The migrant hostel’’) on X mourned the deaths. “This border kills in the greatest of silences,” it said.

As of August 8, 17,639 people had crossed the sea on so-called “small boats” to Britain this year, according to a tally of British government figures. That is very close to the figure for the same period in 2022, a year of record crossings.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2024