“A horror film”, a shock such as he had never experienced in 21 years at sea: Karl Maquinghen, the fisherman who gave the alert on Wednesday on the worst migratory drama to have occurred in the English Channel remains haunted by the images of the floating bodies of the castaways.
“Seeing so many dead like that next to us, it’s really a horror film”, confides the fisherman, just disembarked, in the middle of the night from Thursday to Friday, from the trawler on which he works as second, at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Very shocked, his voice hoarse with emotion, this bearded man in a blue jumpsuit now only aspires to one thing, “to hug his children” in his arms.
“As soon as you close your eyes, you see the body again”
The sinking on Wednesday claimed the lives of 27 people, 17 men, seven women and three young people, according to the Lille prosecutor.
On Wednesday, it was he who saw the first body on the surface of the water, from the boat’s gangway, the St. James II. He says he then saw “about fifteen”, “dead people, children”.
“Those who did not have a life jacket, we could not see them”, explains the fisherman, except for one “dressed in black”, with “a plaid shirt”. This one, “I saw him because he passed two meters from the boat, not even a meter,” he reports, on the verge of tears.
Immediately, the fishermen warn the Cross Gris-Nez – the regional center which monitors the Channel and orchestrates the rescues of migrants in difficulty on a daily basis – and give their position. “The Coast Guard was not far away, 2 miles from us. They came straight away ”.
“If we had arrived 5 minutes before, we might have been able to save them,” writes Karl Maquinghen, haunted by the images seen at sea. “We can’t sleep. As soon as you close your eyes, you see the body again ”. “We were even afraid of hauling up the nets, for fear that there would be one in”.
“This is the first time this has happened to me, it feels weird,” explains this experienced fisherman who has been practicing his profession for 21 years.
“Every half hour he goes by”
However, the migrants who try to reach England on frail boats have been part of his daily life for months.
And especially since this summer, which has seen a surge in crossings: “Every day, every half hour, there are some.”
“The Cross told us that as long as they didn’t call for assistance and the engine was still running, we couldn’t get them on board. We don’t take them on board, we listen to the Cross, ”he explains.
This drama, “I think it’s the first but it won’t be the last time”. If the authorities “don’t do something, it will be there every day, especially at this time”, with the onset of bad weather. “In my opinion, it doesn’t take long for them to die” in a sea at this temperature, at 10-12 degrees.
The number of crossings on the rise
In previous years, crossing attempts had declined with the onset of the bad season, but this year they continued at a very strong pace, with even new records such as November 11, when 1,185 migrants managed to join the English coasts.
Karl Maquinghen says he does not feel anger, rather a feeling of helplessness. “Who do you want me to be mad at?” We can not do anything. Or open the tunnel ”, under the Channel, through which many exiles passed before it was locked, he says.
Despite the trauma, he will return to sea in the coming days. “It’s our job, we have to go back on board. You have to feed your family well ”.
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