British authorities announced this Wednesday the arrest of three men, as part of the investigation into the deaths of five people, including a seven-year-old child, who were trying to cross the English Channel in an overcrowded boat.
The migrants had left France in the early hours of Tuesday heading to England, but ended up falling overboard and dying shortly after beginning the crossing, near Wimereux beach. There were 112 people on board, exceeding the vessel’s total capacity by more than five times. At least 55 refused to be rescued by French authorities and managed to reach the English coast last night, having already been identified.
This Tuesday alone, the British Government registered seven small boats on the English Channel route, totaling 402 migrants (on average, 57 people per boat).
In a statement, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed that “three men were arrested on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration and illegal entry into the United Kingdom”, as part of the investigation led by France.
According to the NCA, the detainees are two citizens of Sudan and one from South Sudan, aged between 19 and 22, who are being interrogated this Wednesday at a police station in the county of Kent.
“This tragic incident demonstrates, once again, the risk to lives that these crossings represent and highlights the importance of combating the criminal gangs involved in their organization”, declared Craig Turner, deputy director of the NCA. “We will do everything we can, together with our partners in France and the UK, to identify those responsible for this case and bring them to justice.”
The fatal victims are a seven-year-old girl, a woman and three men. At the beginning of March, an Iraqi girl of the same age, seven years old, had drowned just a few kilometers off the French coast, from where the family had left to cross the English Channel.
Also on Monday night, hours before the deaths were announced, the British Parliament approved the proposed law to deport migrants and asylum seekers to Rwanda, to be implemented this spring, with the alleged aim of deterring immigration. illegally across the English Channel.
The so-called “Rwanda Plan” had been announced two years ago by the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and was later supported by Rishi Sunak. In reaction to the most recent tragedy in the English Channel, the current head of Government considered it “another warning of how this plan can be so important”. “There is a certain element of compassion in everything we are doing,” he told reporters.
However, discussion of the proposal dragged on for months and led to interventions and criticism from the European Court of Human Rights, the British Supreme Court, top officials from the United Nations and the Council of Europe, as well as numerous organizations defending the human rights.
In 2024 alone, more than 6,200 people have arrived on British territory aboard precarious boats, the majority of Afghan, Vietnamese or Syrian nationality, according to Government data. At least 15 died in that attempt, more than the total number of fatalities recorded in 2023 (12).
Also this year, as of April 14, 2,134 people seeking refuge in the United Kingdom had already been forced to return — a number that is expected to skyrocket with the implementation of the deportation plan for Rwanda.
The so-called pushbacks (or forced returns) have become part of European border policy, despite international humanitarian law enshrining the right to seek asylum and determining the principle of non-refoulement: it is prohibited to force the return of people to countries where their life and freedom are threatened.
