Four migrants die as boat capsizes in Channel crossing try – as France rejects Britain’s supply to intercept and return small boats
Four migrants have died after a small boat capsized in the Channel – as France rejected Britain’s offer to intercept and return small boats.
The vessel, which was overloaded with dozens of migrants, got into trouble off the coast of Boulogne.
A large rescue operation was launched just after 7am, with onlookers seeing several bodies floating in the water near Ecault beach.
Francois-Xavier Lauch, The prefect of Pas-de-Calais, said two men and two women had died in the incident.
French officials said the vessel was a ‘taxiboat’ – which describes a boat used to ferry migrants from beaches to dinghies in the Channel.
It comes as Emmanuel Macron‘s government firmly rejected a proposal from Shabana Mahmood to allow Border Force vessels to intercept boats in French waters.
The plan was put forward as negotiations continue to renew a multimillion-pound migrant patrol deal between UK and France. The current agreement was set to expire in March but was extended by two months while both sides haggle over new terms.
An estimated 137 migrants crossed the Channel yesterday, with French police seen standing idly by as groups of men piled into dinghies off Dunkirk beach. Crossings have topped 5,000 so far this year.
Emergency services off the French coast today
Taxpayers have already given £658million in security payments to France since 2018, a report by the House of Commons Library set out last year.
Despite criticism of the existing French response, there are fears a failure to strike a new deal on funding for beach patrols could turbocharge crossings even further over the warm summer months.
During the negotiations British officials proposed deploying vessels from its fleet of six 42-metre Border Force cutters and five commercial transfer vessels in addition to rigid inflatable boats.
French police stand idly by as migrants scramble towards dinghies off Dunkirk beach yesterday
The plan would have seen British vessels intercept small boats before they reached UK waters before taking the migrants on board and returning them to northern France.
Currently, Border Force pick up migrants once they have crossed into UK territorial waters to prevent casualties, before taking them ashore at Dover.
However, the proposal was rejected by the French because it would have involved British officers entering their territorial waters – which they described as a ‘red line’.
The details were revealed by French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné.
