Five migrants, including a 7-year-old girl, have drowned while trying to cross the English Channel, just hours after the UK parliament passed a bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, Reuters reports.
The deaths occurred when a boat carrying 112 people set off to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and panic gripped the passengers close to shore.
Rescuers picked up 49 people and four were taken to hospital, but the rest stayed on the boat, determined to make their way to the UK. The French coastguard is still searching for survivors. Local prefect Jacques Billant told reporters:
“A tragedy occurred on a boat overloaded with migrants early this morning. We deplore the deaths of five people, a seven-year-old girl, a woman and three men. The engine stopped a few hundred meters away from the shore and several people fell into the water.”
The Coast Guard reported that 58 people remained on board. Billant also added:
“They did not want to be rescued, they managed to restart the engine and headed towards Britain.”
The boat left Wimereux, about 32 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of the French port of Calais.
More than 6,000 people have travelled to Britain this year in small, overloaded boats that risk being smashed by waves as they try to reach British shores.
Tens of thousands have made the journey since 2018, and Britain has responded by spending two years overcoming resistance to a divisive policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, which it hopes will deter people from making the dangerous crossing.
Overnight, the British parliament finally passed a law allowing deportation and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he expected the first flights in 10 to 12 weeks, giving time for further legal wrangling with charities, campaigns and trade unions.
Human rights groups and other critics say the policy is inhumane, but Sunak told reporters on Tuesday that the government was acting out of compassion, wanting to prevent smugglers from pushing vulnerable people out to sea. He said:
“They are packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies, you’ve seen an enormous increase in the numbers over the past few years. This is what tragically happens.”
Under the Rwanda scheme, anyone who arrives in the UK illegally after 1 January 2022 will be sent to Rwanda, some 6,400 km (4,000 miles) away. More than 50,000 people have arrived in the country since that date, according to official figures.
Campaigners said the containment policy simply would not work. Kolbassia Haoussou from the British-based Freedom said:
“I know that when you’re running for your life, not even the risk of death can stop you trying to reach safety.”
Wimereux mayor Jean-Luc Dubaele said migrants could still find work in Britain, which made it an attractive destination regardless.
