No less than seven rescue operations were launched this Thursday, August 12 in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais to help migrant boats in difficulty. A total of 164 castaways were rescued in one day. The maritime prefecture reports eight makeshift boats heading for England.
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Among these boats, one of them carried 37 people who were brought back safe and sound to the port of Boulogne. Two other very loaded boats were identified off Dunkirk, with 26 and 36 migrants on board. Each time, they are brought back to dry land, taken care of by firefighters and border police.
A first victim this year
During these rescue operations, a castaway was found unconscious. He was helicoptered to Calais hospital where he died soon after his arrival.. He is a man in his thirties, of African origin according to the Dunkirk prosecutor’s office. The prosecution also opened an investigation for manslaughter and endangering the lives of others. He is the first victim in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais this year.
This summer, the crossings are exceptionally numerous. Already on Wednesday, 108 migrants were rescued in a single day, which makes more than 270 people brought back to dry land in two days. There have been more attempts at crossings since the start of 2021 than over the whole of 2020, the maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea told Agence France Presse at the beginning of August.
Another sign of the increase in crossings, at the beginning of August, the record for the number of successful crossings was broken, with more than 480 arrivals on the English coasts according to the British Home Office.
