Another body is found in the sea near Calais, a day after three migrants were killed trying to reach Britain on an overcrowded inflatable boat
The body of a man was recovered from the Channel near the northern French port of Calais on Monday, prosecutors said, the day after three migrants were killed trying to reach Britain.
“The victim is a black man, approximately 30 years old, who remains to be identified at this stage,” said Patrick Leleu, deputy prosecutor in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
He added that a passer-by had seen the body in a “good state of preservation” in the water off Sangatte beach, just west of Calais, meaning “the question arises as to a link with this weekend’s successful crossing ‘.
The remains were found just over 500 meters from the site of Sunday’s fatal accident, Sangatte Mayor Guy Allemand said.
At least three people were killed when a boat headed to Britain in the early morning, bringing the toll to 76 by 2024.
According to the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, several groups of people had tried to board an already loaded inflatable ‘small boat’.
The jostling and ‘panic movement’ that followed caused about forty people to end up in the water as the overloaded ship continued its journey.
Three adult men were pronounced dead after being recovered by a naval helicopter just a few dozen meters from shore.
A group of people believed to be migrants are taken to Dover, Kent, by the RNLI Dover Lifeboat after a minor boating incident in the Channel on December 29.
Migrants board a smuggler’s inflatable rubber boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on Bleriot beach in Sangatte, near Calais, northern France on October 30, 2024
The remains were found just over 500 meters from the site of Sunday’s fatal accident, Sangatte Mayor Guy Allemand said.
In addition to these three men, a child is feared missing at sea.
A large-scale rescue operation was launched on a beach in Sangatte, northern France, after the first warning was given at around 6.15am on Sunday.
Firefighters and law enforcement officers were deployed in large numbers to the Tom Souville base.
Authorities warned that the death toll could rise as investigations are carried out by prosecutors in Boulogne-sur-Mer and judicial police try to locate those who supplied the boats.
About 50 migrants have been taken into the care of French humanitarian charity Utopia 56, and 10 people with severe hypothermia are being treated by firefighters. Four people were taken to hospital.
Three unconscious people were pulled from the water, but could not be resuscitated despite efforts by medical teams.
Many survivors reported seeing a child fall into the sea, and by Sunday evening there was no trace of the missing person.
Célestin Pichaud, coordinator of the refugee organization Utopia 56, said: “People on the ground immediately told us that a child had fallen into the water, but we had no information about the discovery of a child.”
Life jackets, buoys and a deflated inflatable boat can be seen as a P&O Ferry sails in the background, after a failed attempt by migrants to illegally cross the English Channel to reach Britain, on Sangatte beach, near Calais, Northern France. December 4, 2024. Archive photo
About 50 migrants have been taken into the care of French humanitarian charity Utopia 56, and 10 people with severe hypothermia are being treated by firefighters, BFM TV reported.
A group of people believed to be migrants are taken from a Border Force ship to Dover, Kent, on December 29, 2024, following a minor boating incident in the Channel.
A French Navy helicopter was part of the rescue mission carried out on the beach near Calais, with rescuers opposite the Fort Lapin campsite in the coastal municipality.
A France Blue A report, citing the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea, said too many people had tried to climb into the small boat, in what was described as a “chaotic boarding”.
Several migrants suffered hypothermia in the extremely cold water, while others had no life jackets and could not float.
According to the shipping website Marine Traffic, two British Border Police vessels were also seen in the middle of the Channel.
The Typhoon and Volunteer ships and the Tacu – which picks up migrant boats once people have been brought aboard the catamarans – were in British waters in the middle of the Strait of Dover.
Charity worker Flore Judet said: ‘A boat was set to leave with 60 people on board, but a group of 50 extra people tried to get onto the boat.
‘This caused extreme panic, causing many to end up in the water.’
Jacques Billant, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, said an overcrowded boat may have contributed to the tragedy.
He told a news conference: “There were more people trying to get on board than there was room in the boat.”