What happened
A tragic incident occurred in the English Channel, resulting in the deaths of two women and a child. The victims were on a smuggler boat that got into distress near the French coast, close to the port of Calais. Despite efforts by an emergency medical team and an air ambulance, the three were declared dead at the scene.
The boat, which was carrying around 105 migrants, was of the 'migrant taxi' type, where an inflatable boat picks up smaller groups of migrants along the French coast before heading to the United Kingdom. The weather conditions in the English Channel were calm at the time of the incident.
The remaining migrants on board were rescued and taken to the French port of Calais. This incident is the latest in a series of fatalities in the English Channel, with at least 22 known deaths this year. The United Nations' International Organisation for Migration estimates that around 37,000 migrants have died trying to reach Europe since 2014.
The British government has been working to control migrant flows, including paying France to secure its borders. While migrant arrivals to Britain have decreased by over 40% this year, the issue of human smuggling and trafficking remains a significant concern. The smugglers are becoming increasingly organized, with larger and more sophisticated boats being used to transport migrants.
