Four people have been detained in France after six people died and more than 50 were rescued when a boat carrying migrants to the UK sank in the Channel.
Proceedings were opened against the four – two Iraqis aged in their early 40s and two Sudanese, one in their late teens and the other in their late 20s – after the vessel got into difficulty and sank off the coast of Sangatte on August 12, according to French judicial sources.
The investigating judges are looking at potential offences of involuntary homicide, criminal conspiracy for illegal immigration, with the Iraqis suspected of belonging to a human trafficking network, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
The four suspects were placed in detention on remand, according to the judicial sources.
Around 65 people are thought to have boarded the boat, with two still feared missing at sea based on the accounts of survivors, France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea said at the time.
Six people were recovered in a serious condition, one of whom was flown by helicopter to a Calais hospital and pronounced dead.
An updated statement said the other five, who were taken in by boat, had also died.
A passing ship first raised the alarm at around 4.20am that a vessel was sinking near Calais in the early hours of Saturday, the prefecture said.
A French vessel then located a boat using optronic technology and approached to begin rescue operations using a 25-person life raft and a Rigid Inflatable Boat (Rib).
In the hours that followed, a French Navy aircraft and helicopter were deployed, assisted by several other French boats along with two British vessels.
A total of 61 people were rescued by the British and French emergency services, the prosecutor’s office spokesperson added.
The spokesperson said: “The identification of the dead people is still being carried out by the gendarmerie and the medico-legal institute at Lille.
“All repatriated people on the French side have been heard (interviewed). Nearly all are of Afghan nationality and passed through a camp in the ‘Jungle’ at Calais before departing from a beach further away from the town.”
The boat had a motor problem crossing the channel and the majority of those on board did not have life jackets, the prosecutor’s office said.
The spokesperson said: “Their situation had been signalled by a boat passing near and rescue resources were immediately triggered.
“Several boats in the area, warned, took a detour to get to the site. They were joined by an Abeille (surveillance aircraft from the national navy), a canoe from the National Society of Sea Safety, two British aid boats and a helicopter to help localise the victims.”
It had been one of several migrant boats that had set off between Friday night and Saturday morning aiming to reach the British coast, according to the French authorities.
It comes after some 444 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in eight boats on Wednesday, new figures show.
This takes the provisional total for 2023 to date to 17,234, according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office data.
PA understands Border Force has been preparing for what it calls “red” days, when warm weather and calm seas are favourable for crossings – conditions which are expected to continue on the south coast into the weekend.
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