At least 27 refugees and asylum seekers have died trying to cross the English Channel after their dinghy deflated and sank in the worst disaster on record involving migrants in the sea separating France and the United Kingdom.
France had earlier said 31 people lost their lives, but the number was later revised down to 27, government officials said.
More people had left France’s northern shores than usual on Wednesday to take advantage of the relatively calm sea conditions, although the water was bitterly cold, according to the Reuters news agency, which cited local fishermen.
One called the rescue services after seeing an empty dinghy and people floating motionless nearby, and a joint French-British rescue operation was launched involving at least three boats and three helicopters.
Darmanin said French police had arrested four people suspected of being linked to the drowning, which he called “the biggest [migrant] tragedy that we have seen”. Two people were critically ill in hospital with severe hypothermia, he added, but the nationalities and identities of those on board were not known.
The London-based Times newspaper said one of the dead was an Afghan soldier who had worked with the British armed forces and whose family decided to risk the crossing because they had “waited so long for help” from the UK.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) called the incident the largest single loss of life in the Channel since it started collecting data in 2014.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex called the boat sinking a “tragedy”.
“My thoughts are with the many missing and injured, victims of criminal smugglers who exploit their distress and misery,” he wrote in a tweet.
The number of people using small boats or dinghies to cross the Channel has risen sharply this year despite the dangers, and the issue has become an increasing point of friction between London and Paris.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “shocked and appalled” by the deaths and called on France to do more to deter people from attempting the crossing. People trafficking gangs were “literally getting away with murder”, Johnson said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Britain needed to stop politicising the issue for domestic gain, while Darmanin, said Britain had to be a part of the answer.
Human traffickers typically overload the dinghies with passengers, leaving the boats barely afloat and at the mercy of waves.
But rights groups and refugee experts say government policies restricting asylum and tighter surveillance was pushing people to take ever more risks.
“To accuse only the smugglers is to hide the responsibility of the French and British authorities,” said l’Auberge des Migrants, an advocacy group that supports refugees and displaced people.
Britain, where regaining “control” of Britain’s borders was the rallying cry for the ‘No’ campaign in the divisive 2016 referendum on whether the country should remain a member of the European Union, has urged France to take stricter action against those attempting to make the journey.
According to the French authorities, 31,500 people have attempted the crossing since the start of the year and 7,800 people have been rescued at sea, figures which have doubled since August. (Courtesy AlJazeera)
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