A small boat carrying migrants trying to cross the English Channel ran aground on a beach in northern France, killing two people and injuring 16, including three with severe burns, authorities said Sunday.
The vessel, carrying 82 people, set sail overnight from Hardelot beach, a few kilometers south of the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, but its engine failed and it began to float, said Christophe Marx, secretary general of the Pas-de-Calais prefecture.
A French maritime gendarmerie vessel rescued 17 people and transported them to Boulogne-sur-Mer, while a makeshift boat ran aground with another 65 people on board.
– The bodies of two women were found, most likely died of suffocation, said Marx.
– It is believed that they were crushed or suffocated, as unfortunately often happens on boats where too many people are crammed in, he added.
The women are believed to be in their twenties and originally from Sudan, and an investigation has been launched. The three injured persons are in a very serious condition with burns caused by the fuel on the bottom of the boat.
This is the third fatal incident involving migrants attempting the perilous crossing to the UK in just over a month.
Last month, two men and two women died while trying to board a dinghy off the coast of northern France. British authorities have arrested a man from Sudan on suspicion of endangering lives in the case. A week earlier, two more people died in similar circumstances off the coast north of Calais.
The governments of the United Kingdom and France last month signed a new multimillion-dollar agreement aimed at reducing the number of migrants crossing the English Channel, with increased police patrols and surveillance in northern France.
So far this year, more than 6,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, a 36 per cent drop on the same period last year, which can partly be attributed to more volatile weather conditions.
Before Sunday’s deaths, migrant aid group Utopia 56 said at least 172 people had died at the France-UK border in the past three years, including 123 at sea, Anadolu reported.
