One migrant died and dozens were rescued after an overcrowded small boat carrying more than 110 people got into trouble in the English Channel overnight from Thursday to Friday. French emergency services took 72 passengers off the boat near Gravelines.
The French coastguard had been watching the vessel when those on board called for help. Rescuers found one person unresponsive and gave CPR, but the person was pronounced dead once a rescue helicopter arrived. Three others were injured, one of them needing urgent medical care, according to the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
The other 45 people stayed aboard and carried on toward the UK, French authorities said. A British rescue vessel picked them up there.
Crossings in bad weather
People kept making the crossing despite heavy thunderstorms and strong winds. The incident came a day after 494 migrants reached the UK on Thursday, the first successful crossings in 10 days.
Government data show about 16,391 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, a drop of 43 percent from the same point last year.
Politics
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood pointed to recent enforcement results while saying more has to be done. “A little over two years into office and the asylum backlog is down, the number of asylum seekers in hotels is falling, illegal working arrests are at record levels, and deportations and returns are up markedly,” she said.
Mahmood added that she has “boosted enforcement on the French beaches and overseas and introduced new legislation to tackle the pull factors that draw people here through unsafe and illegal routes.”
Critics were not persuaded. Rob Bate, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, warned of rising fiscal and social costs for the British welfare system as more migrants become eligible for settlement.
