NOW WILL WE WAKE UP TO THIS TRAGEDY?
As a young migrant drowns trying to reach Britain...
A YOUNG migrant drowned yesterday trying to reach Britain in a 3ft dinghy – tragically highlighting the human cost of the crisis.
The victim, who could not swim, had set off from Calais in the middle of the night with a friend. The pair are thought to have accidentally punctured their inflatable craft with the shovels they were using as oars.
The dinghy started to sink and – although his friend somehow survived – the Sudanese migrant was unable to make it safely ashore. His body was found on a beach at Sangatte seven hours later. He was only 16, according to France’s citizenship minister.
The tragedy sparked a major row yesterday over the Government’s handling of the crisis, which has seen record numbers cross the Channel in small boats this year.
The Bishop of Dover called for ‘definitive action’ to protect those ‘desperate enough to risk their lives’ in small boats. ‘How much
worse does this have to get,’ said the Rt Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin. ‘We cannot let his death pass by unremarked. This appalling tragedy should be a wake-up call to all of us. We cannot stand by any longer while bodies wash up on the shores.’
Pierre-Henri Dumont, the MP for Calais, stoked up cross-Channel tensions by claiming Britain’s asylum policy was to blame.
He said: ‘What we all feared happened that night. How many more dramas will it take for the British to regain an ounce of humanity? The inability to apply for asylum in Great Britain without being physically present is causing these tragedies.’
However, the Tory MP Tim Loughton, a former children’s minister, claimed the ‘lack of humanity’ lay with the French for letting migrants attempt to cross the Channel. ‘It is appalling that the French are allowing people to endanger their lives,’ he told Channel 4 News. ‘That is where the lack of humanity is I’m afraid.’
Home Secretary Priti Patel described the death as ‘upsetting and tragic’ and blasted the criminal gangs and people smugglers who exploit those trying to reach the UK. Another 135 migrants reached Britain yesterday and a further 41 were rescued from sinking boats in French waters and taken to French ports.
‘This horrendous incident serves as a brutal reminder of the abhorrent criminal gangs and people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people,’ she added.
But she faced criticism from a string of Labour politicians, including Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, who accused her of ‘ lacking compassion and competence’.
The young Sudanese migrant who died set off from Sangatte shortly after midnight and was attempting to cross the busiest shipping lane in the world with a friend in a blow-up toy dinghy commonly found in supermarkets.
A night fisherman on the shoreline spotted the boat sinking and immediately called the emergency services.
The victim is understood to be the first to die while trying to cross the Channel in a small boat this year. His friend is being treated in a Calais hospital for shock and hypothermia. He told officials that he and his friend were both 16. Citizenship minister Marlene Schiappa said the death highlighted the need to tackle the smugglers.
But there was confusion about the victim’s age last night as one report in France suggested that documents retrieved from the victim’s body indicated he could have been older than 16.
Philippe Sabatier, the deputy prosecutor in Boulogne, announced that a criminal inquiry had been opened.
His office will examine whether a trafficking gang was linked to the tragic attempt to cross the Channel.
‘The surviving migrant who accompanied him said that they had attempted the Channel crossing on board a small inflatable dinghy which they had stolen from a beach hut,’ said Mr Sabatier. ‘They had also equipped themselves with spades as oars. One of them accidentally punctured the craft with a spade and the two men fell into the water. Only the one who could swim managed to survive.’
Mr Sabatier said the survivor was ‘ in a state of shock, and being treated in Calais hospital’. The remains of the boat were later found on the beach, along with a mobile phone, documents and a shovel.
Charles Devos, skipper of the Notre-Dame du Risban rescue boat, said: ‘It would have been impossible to make the crossing. And with the ferries passing at 22 knots, the rolls that occur after it left would have overturned the boat.
‘Without an engine, therefore, and builders’ shovels for oars, reaching British waters to be rescued by the Border Force would have been a miracle.’
Clare Moseley, founder of migrant charity Care4Calais, said the young man ‘did not deserve to die alone at sea’.
‘We are absolutely devastated by the unnecessary death,’ she said. ‘We can only imagine the fear he felt and our hearts go out to his family. This death starkly demonstrates the total failure of our government to do anything to help those who are in such desperate straits.
‘We need a way for people’s asylum claims to be fairly heard without them having to risk their lives. We need this before someone else dies.’
Former Royal Marine Dan O’Mahoney, who is leading Britain’s response to the illegal crossings, is expected to return to France today to continue searching for a solution to the crisis.
Paris has demanded £30million from the UK Government to bolster its Channel patrols, but Mrs Patel said any such funds are conditional on France taking back some of the migrants.
Almost 5,000 migrants have made the 21mile crossing this year in small boats compared with just 1,850 during the whole of last year. Campaigners estimated this year’s total could reach at least 8,000. Around 1,400 have reached Britain in August.
In other developments, Spanish authorities located a boat near the Canary Islands with around ten dead migrants on board yesterday.
‘Busiest shipping lane in the world’