54 people have died crossing the Channel in 2024. Are the rescue operations adequate?
InvestigationSince the beginning of the year, 54 people have died at sea trying to reach England. Casualties are occurring increasingly close to the coast. Despite a reinforced stronger search and rescue system, the fatality rate is rising.
Three people drowned on Wednesday, October 23, when their boat sank one nautical mile (1.8 kilometers) off Blérinot-Plage in Calais, bringing the number of people who drowned in 2024 while trying to cross the English Channel to 54. On Friday, the body of a 40-day-old infant from Iraqi Kurdistan was recovered off the coast. The boat in which Maryam Bahez was traveling with her parents had torn open at sea. While 28,000 people have managed to reach the United Kingdom this year, the death toll on this migratory route has increased tenfold since 2022, a year in which 45,000 people reached England and five people died at sea.
More and more deaths near the coast
Location of shipwrecks with fatalities and number of victims recorded.
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Source : SECMAR, Cross Gris-Nez, Utopia 56
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau underlined this increased dangerousness in a post on X on October 3, in which he commented on his meeting at the G7 with his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, who praised "law enforcement forces' heroic commitment to preventing crossings to the UK." The French minister wrote: "We also shared the view that this efficiency had harmful consequences, including an increase in the number of casualties."
The small boats that first appeared in late 2018 are shoddy, unsuitable for crossing, and a major risk for those on board. Over time, these dinghies measuring less than 10 meters have also become increasingly overloaded as a result of smugglers' greed and disregard for human life. They may have grown more inclined to take more risks to limit the economic losses caused by law enforcement's "efficiency" in thwarting departures by seizing dinghies before they are launched. Nowadays, each small boat carries an average of around 60 people, compared with around 40 in 2023 and 30 in 2022. Several recent capsizes have involved more than 80 people in one boat.
'Chaotic, overcrowded departures'
"Because of how overcrowded the dinghies are, the moment they set off is critical," explained a sailor who worked on search and rescue operations and requested anonymity, like all those who have done rescue work in the Strait of Dover who agreed to talk to Le Monde. These workers are not authorized to discuss operations. "The ever-increasing numbers of passengers are increasingly less equipped with basic life-saving equipment like life jackets," explained the Maritime Prefecture of the English Channel and North Sea.
Another rescuer underlined the impact of "taxi boats." To prevent law enforcement from smashing vessels on the beaches, smugglers launch boats ahead of the crossings and pick up groups of migrants directly in the water. "The migrants get onboard very quickly and are sometimes joined by other groups, which leads to chaotic, overcrowded departures."
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