On Saturday, November 23, thirty-one white roses were tossed into the harbor of Dunkirk in northern France. On the evening of November 23, 2021, off the coast of Calais, thirty-one persons lost their lives or disappeared at sea. In Dunkirk, more than 200 people came together to commemorate the third anniversary of the deadliest migrant shipwreck in the English Channel since the end of 2018, when the so-called “small boat” phenomenon of the improvised rubber dinghies that migrants try to use to get to England exploded. On the day of the disaster, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged:
France will not allow the English Channel to become a graveyard.
The Pas-de-Calais prefecture reports that at least 72 migrants have perished while attempting to reach England by boat, even though the year has not yet ended. This surpasses the total number of fatalities in the Channel for the previous five years put together.
The dark reality of migrant crossings in the channel
Macron and Boris Johnson, the British prime minister at the time, decided on the “urgency of stepping up joint efforts” in the battle against crossings on the evening of November 24, 2021. Over 28,500 individuals have arrived in England via small boat by 2021. In 2022, there were about 46,000 crossings, setting a record. Although there was a minor decline in 2023, at least 34,000 people have traveled across the English Channel in flimsy boats since the beginning of 2024. They include Turks, Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, Iranians, Eritreans, and Vietnamese. Oxford University’s Immigration Observatory examined data from the UK Home Office and found that 93% of those who crossed the English Channel between 2018 and March 2024 filed for asylum. And almost three-quarters have received protection thus far. In one of the greatest Channel disasters since the small boats crisis started, a boat bringing hundreds of asylum seekers to the UK was “ripped open,” killing at least 12 people, including six children and a pregnant mother. According to French officials, 10 of the people who died were women, and many of them are thought to be from Eritrea. This is a significant test for Keir Starmer’s administration, which is under pressure from charities to create safe pathways for those wishing to go to the UK.
Migrant shipwrecks in the channel
According to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, more than fifty persons, including two critically ill individuals, were rescued from the “horrible shipwreck” off the coast of Cap Gris-Nez on Tuesday morning. According to French officials, just eight of the seventy passengers were wearing life jackets. According to reports, the incident in which all passengers were thrown into the sea caused the second-highest number of fatalities to occur during the effort to reach the United Kingdom since the small boat crisis started. The prime minister is being urged to create legal pathways in the wake of the most recent deaths in order to prevent prospective refugees from having to make such arduous treks before applying for asylum in the UK. In a further move, Darmanin demanded that the UK and EU draft a new migration pact to facilitate the process for asylum seekers. The event was called “horrifying and deeply tragic” by UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who also stated that “vital” measures to strengthen border security and dismantle “dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs” “must proceed apace.”
Channel crossings are deadlier
Cooper stated that she was receiving updates on the situation and was in communication with the French administration.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of everyone who has died and everyone who has suffered severe injuries,
she stated.
When it was reported that a dinghy had encountered difficulties off Le Portal, which is located approximately 28 miles southwest of Calais on the northern French coast, the French authorities were sent to the scene. According to the French Coast Guard, everyone on board ended up in the ocean, many of them without life jackets. Search and rescue ships from the UK are on standby after the catastrophe, which is believed to have occurred in French seas.
The channel crossing crisis
According to Guirec Le Bras, the prosecutor for Boulogne-sur-Mer, at least 12 individuals perished, including 10 women and six children. Officials
do not have consolidated details that would allow us to specify the exact nationalities,
he continued, adding that the majority of those slain were “of Eritrean origin.” Over 2,000 asylum seekers have entered the UK in small boats in the last week. On August 28, about 600 people landed in ten boats, and on September 2, 351 people arrived on six vessels.
