French maritime authorities reported a tragedy in the English Channel on Monday: an overcrowded vessel carrying migrants trying to reach the British coast sank, killing one person.
A total of 62 people were assisted by rescue services. A statement from the prefecture said that two of the victims were evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Boulogne-sur-mer, but one person could not be saved.
On May 12, the maritime prefecture reported the rescue of 192 migrants crossing the strait, with one person also killed.
French immigration statistics show that 2023 was the deadliest year since 2018, with 78 people losing their lives trying to cross the strait. Against this backdrop, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a radical tightening of migration policy, labelling the current level of illegal migration as out of control.
The situation requires the British authorities to spend many millions of dollars every day to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels. The migration crisis has sharply worsened after 2021, when the new visa rules adopted by Boris Johnson’s government after Brexit came into force.
According to the Office for National Statistics, net migration growth for the period from June 2023 to June 2024 was 728 thousand people, which is almost three times higher than the pre-crisis figures (about 250 thousand annually before leaving the EU). The main motivation for illegal immigrants remains the possibility of obtaining refugee status with access to social benefits and state support programmes.
