- This story is developing, more to follow
At least 58 migrants bound in the UK, including four women and a toddler, were saved from a crowded boat that had sunk in the English canal today.
The inflatable rubber boat collapsed about six miles in Calais, after the launch of the French coast in the early hours of Sunday.
It was one of the multiple vessels that were arranged by people smugglers who tried the crossing, one day of relatively good weather.
Another boat sent a Mayday call after showing from Le Portel, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, and about 38 migrants were collected by the Minck, a lifeboat that was chartered by the French government.
Others stayed on board and were allowed to continue their journey to Great Britain.
Two naval helicopters participated in the rescue operation around the boat that had sunk, which ended around 11 a.m. with everyone who was thought to have been brought to safety.
“Three suffering from hypothermia, while an unconscious man was flown to the hospital in Boulogne,” said a spokesperson for the maritime prefecture.
He said that a two -year -old child and four women were saved.
Migrants board the inflatable rubber boat of a smuggler while trying to cross the English canal to reach Great Britain on Sangatte Beach near Calais, North France, on January 15, 2025
Migrants step on board the inflatable rubber boat of a smuggler in an attempt to cross the English canal, on Bleriot Beach in Sangatte, near Calais, North France on October 30, 2024
Five people were later interviewed by border police that investigated the attempted intersection, while 40 were released without interrogation.
Those on board, including Afghans, Iranians, Tanzanians, Vietnamese, Ghanaians, Sudanese and Sri Lankans.
New data from the British government shows a record of 1,489 migrants who have made the trip on the channel from the beginning of January to 6 February.
This is higher than the 1,382 that made the same intersection from France in 2024 during the same time window.
In January a Syrian man became the first British migrant of 2025 who died in the canal after he was crushed in a crowded boat to death.
Such horrible deaths have become common on a route that 77 lives claimed in 2024.
The French Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleeau said about such tragedies: “Our government will intensify the fight against these Mafia's rich by organizing these crossings of death.”
In April last year, a criminal investigation was launched after the death of five migrants, including a little girl around Wimereux, near Calais.
The worst tragedy of this kind came in November 2021, when 27 migrants died after a rubber boat sank while he went to the UK – the highest number of deaths due to a single incident.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have promised to 'strengthen cooperation' to combat human smugglers, but they are regularly criticized because they have not done enough.
More to follow.
