The migrant recovered unconscious by emergency services off the coast of Calais on Wednesday while trying to reach England aboard a makeshift boat has died, and two others are missing, the maritime prefecture said in the evening.
During a rescue operation, a helicopter “relocated these three people adrift, one of whom was already submerged”, indicated the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Prémar) in a press release.
The emergency services recovered “a first person, unconscious” who will be “declared dead at the dock” and “the two other people reported could not be relocated”, she added.
Around fifty people recovered
“A boat was reported in difficulty” and the Gris Nez (Cross) Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Center then “initiated means to arrive in the area”, the authorities reported to AFP.
“Around fifty migrants present on the boat were recovered and reported” to the emergency services that “three people were absent,” added this source.
The search at sea “began at that time”.
“The two other people who were seen in the water could not be relocated by maritime means, the weather conditions on site having deteriorated at the time of the operation,” added Prémar, who affirms that the research has ceased.
At this stage, “we do not know the origin of the fall into the water,” she explained.
Twelve deaths in 2023
Five migrants died on the night of January 13 to 14 while trying to reach a boat in freezing water to cross the Channel, the first deadly tragedy of 2024 off the French coast.
Twelve migrants lost their lives in 2023 while attempting the crossing, according to Prémar.
In 2023, 29,437 migrants reached English shores illegally, compared to 45,774 in 2022, a record year, according to figures from the British Interior Ministry.
About 20% are from Afghanistan.
Next come the Iranians, Turks, Eritreans and Iraqis.