Eight migrants die attempting to cross English Channel in small boat hours after ‘Mafia’ crackdown plans revealed
EIGHT migrants have died while attempting to cross the English Channel – hours after Mafia-style crackdown plans were revealed.
The asylum seekers drowned off the coast between the French ports of Calais and Boulougne overnight.
The French emergency services received a Mayday from a dinghy that got into difficulty in the early hours of this morning.
Local official Jacques Billant said “several migrants lost their lives” in the tragedy – putting the provisional death toll at eight.
A rigid inflatable boat carrying around 50 people ran aground, Billant said.
He added that eight unidentified migrants were declared dead at the scene.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the BBC: “It’s awful. It’s a further loss of life.”
Rescue chiefs said “at least 18 attempts” to reach Britain were made by different boats yesterday.
Calm weather brought out the boats, all of them thought to have been organised by human traffickers.
The smugglers allegedly charge around £1000-a-head for a passage to Britain.
French cops have launched a probe into the latest sinking – vowing to track down the smugglers responsible.
It comes just two weeks after 12 people including six children and a pregnant woman died when another small boat sank in the Channel.
Yesterday it was revealed Sir Keir Starmer will use Italy’s success in cracking down on the Mafia as a blueprint to take on people-smugglers.
The PM will fly to Rome today and hold crunch talks on the small boats crisis with Italian leader Giorgia Meloni.
He will use the summit to announce he has appointed a boss to lead his new UK Border Security Command.
A Labour source said: “Our Border Security Command will pursue illicit finance, dismantle supply chain networks and take down the crime bosses making millions out of small boat crossings.
“We know Italy has had great success tackling organised crime gangs, including the Mafia.
“And we want to learn from the work they have done at home and abroad, so we can take down the awful criminal smuggling mob blighting our waters.”
Speaking about the summit on his trip to the US, Starmer said: “I’ve already had a preliminary discussion with Giorgia Meloni about how we can work together on irregular migration.
“She has of course got some strong ideas and I hope to discuss those with her.
“She and I have already discussed how we can improve joint operations, so that is something we will discuss.”
Responding to the latest deaths, Amnesty International said: “This is yet another appalling and avoidable tragedy.”
Amnesty’s Steve Valdez-Symonds added: “Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who’ve died.
“These perilous crossings are seemingly becoming more and more dangerous.
“It suggests smugglers are taking greater chances with people’s lives as they try to evade detection efforts by the UK and French authorities.
“The Government’s ‘smash the gangs’ slogan and its security-heavy approach is contributing to the death toll.
“The refusal to establish safe asylum routes means these flimsy vessels controlled by people smugglers are the only real option for desperate people fleeing persecution.
“Until UK ministers and their counterparts in France start sharing responsibility over the need for safe routes.
“We should expect this weekend’s tragedy to keep repeating itself time and time again.”
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