An investigation is underway following a complaint to the Inspectorate General of the National Police (IGPN) after an Iraqi woman checked in September while trying to rally England lost the child she she was waiting, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture announced on Wednesday March 3.
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"
The IGPN began its investigations as part of a criminal investigation for an offense of failure to provide assistance
", detailed the prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pascal Marconville, specifying that the complaint had been filed by the parents of the unborn child.
This woman was part of a group of 18 Iraqis intercepted by the gendarmerie on September 2 on the beach of Oye-Plage, when they were "
on the verge of attempting to cross the Channel to reach the British coasts on board. of a semi-rigid motorized boat of the zodiac type
”, specifies the prefecture in a press release.
“
The gendarmes then made contact with the Border Police (PAF), who went there to take into account the migrants present and to arrest some of them for the purposes of administrative checks.
At this precise moment, none of the migrants mentioned any particular difficulties
”.
"
Left free and invited to move away from the coast
", the members of the group are checked, "
a little later, by other gendarmes on patrol.
A woman then reports as being about to give birth, which immediately leads the gendarmes present to alert the emergency services
”.
Support, the woman is admitted to the hospital center of Calais, but "
unfortunately
", her hospitalization "will
experience a dramatic outcome with the loss of her child
", continues the prefecture.
"
This particularly sad event testifies to the dangerousness of the perilous attempts to cross the strait with makeshift boats
", which have multiplied since 2018, concludes the prefecture.
She recalls that during this day in September, marked by very favorable weather conditions, "
41 attempts at illegal sea crossings of the Channel, for a total of 592 migrants involved
", were recorded on the coast of Pas-de-Calais.
In 2020, more than 9,500 crossings or attempts to cross the Channel by migrants on makeshift boats were recorded, four times more than in 2019.