The authorities acknowledged on Wednesday that at least four people had perished when a tiny boat, which was likely carrying migrants, sank in the English Channel. The authorities made the announcement after a significant search and rescue operation was initiated in the early hours of the morning.
According to a report by PA Media, the South East Coast Ambulance Service in the United Kingdom stated that it had dispatched resources to Dover, England, after getting a call about the incident at approximately 3:40 a.m. GMT (10:40 p.m. ET).
Suella Braverman, the British Home Secretary, stated that “tragically there have been four fatalities,” but she stated that it would be improper to go into details about the incident. The government of the United Kingdom chose not to comment on the number of people on board the boat or the number of people who were saved during the joint operation between the United Kingdom and France. The operation involved resources from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution of the United Kingdom, the British Royal Navy, the Border Force of the United Kingdom, the French Navy, and the Kent Police Department.
Citing anonymous government sources, the British media has stated that the incident that occurred early on Wednesday morning resulted in the rescue of hundreds of individuals.
Overnight, temperatures at Folkestone beach dropped to 1 degree Celsius (33.8 degrees Fahrenheit), while temperatures in Calais, France, dropped to -3 degrees Celsius (26.6 degrees Fahrenheit). According to CNN Weather, the temperature of the water in the sea was between 11 and 12 degrees Celsius (52 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit) near Kent during the overnight hours.
The United States Search and Rescue Task Force reports that exposure to water temperatures between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit (10 and 16 degrees Celsius) causes exhaustion or unconsciousness within one to two hours, with an anticipated survival duration ranging from one to six hours.
One of the busiest shipping lanes in the world is the English Channel, which is a canal that stretches between Britain and France and is, at its narrowest point, just over 20 miles (32 km) long.
Refugees and migrants who are escaping violence, persecution, and poverty in some of the world’s poorest or most war-torn countries risk making the perilous crossing, frequently in dinghies that are not suitable for the journey and at the mercy of people smugglers, in the hopes of receiving asylum in Britain or taking advantage of economic opportunities in the country.
In a statement, Enver Solomon, the Chief Executive Officer of the Refugee Council, noted that the “devastating news” of the incident was unfortunately not a unique occurrence.
In a statement that was given to CNN, Solomon said that “it has been just over a year since a similar catastrophe claimed the lives of 32 people.”
One of the deadliest occurrences to occur in the English Channel in recent years occurred in November of 2017, when an inflatable boat carrying migrants headed for Britain sank in the waters off the coast of France. The incident was one of the bloodiest in recent years in the English Channel.According to CNN, a charity spokeswoman revealed that five more people have not been found and are believed to have died as a result of the incident.
In the same way that the people involved in the earlier incident had hopes and dreams for the future,They did not violate any laws. “They were making frantic efforts to find a safe haven,” Solomon continued.
In October, more than one hundred refugee charities collaborated on an open letter to be sent to Braverman. In the letter, they urged Braverman to solve what they referred to as a “backlog in asylum cases” and to develop safe pathways for refugees to migrate to Britain. In the past, Braverman has used the term “invasion” to describe those who cross the English Channel without permission.
According to what Braverman said in front of parliament on Wednesday, it is a “lethally perilous undertaking” to cross the Channel in vessels that are not seaworthy. It is for this reason, above all others, that we are fighting so hard to disrupt the business model of the people smugglers who use human beings as merchandise. These are organized, evil criminals.
The Conservative government came under fire from the opposition Labour Party on Wednesday for making “barely any advances” in the fight against people-smuggling gangs and arresting those who were involved in the illegal activity.
According to data provided by the Home Office, the number of migrants who cross the English Channel into England has been steadily increasing over the past few years. This year, more than 40,000 people arrived in the UK by small boat, which is an increase from the 28,000 people who arrived in 2018 and the less than 2,000 people who are expected to arrive in 2019.