Migrants continue trying to cross both the Mediterranean Sea and the English Channel, despite the sinking of a boat on Tuesday between France and the United Kingdom that left 12 dead.
Maritime Rescue has rescued this Wednesday to 34 people who were traveling in precarious boats through the Mediterranean trying to reach Spain. In the southeast, off the coast of Almería, they have rescued 19 North African people, 14 men, two women and three minors. Later, 27 miles east of Benidorm, they rescued 15 people from a stranded precarious boat, including a woman and a minor.
This Tuesday it was intercepted off the coast of Ibiza a boat with 101 people on board, making Tuesday one of the days with the highest flow of migrants in the Balearic Islandswith more than 300 arrivals.
The English Channel, a focus of controversy in France
These rescues from attempted crossings on the Spanish coasts occur when the controversy continues in France over the death of 12 people when their small boat broke down while they were crossing the English Channelwhen they were trying to reach the United Kingdom.
Just this Wednesday another group of migrants has been spotted trying to cross the English Channel again from the north of France. The boat that left on Wednesday was so full that some of the people on board, overcrowded one next to the other on the edges of the boat, their legs were dangling. Many wore orange life jackets.
The mayor of Wimereux, the French coastal town from which journalists filmed the boat loaded with people on Wednesday morning, has request to the authorities French and British to do more to stop the flow of migrants.
“Unfortunately, every day is like this for us. The human traffickerswho are a criminal network, continue to insist on sending people to their deaths in the Channel,” said Mayor Jean-Luc Dubaële. “It is absolutely unacceptable and scandalous. “And it is time for a long-term solution to be found with the UK.”
The French maritime agency that oversees that stretch of the busy waterway between France and Britain has confirmed to the AP that the boat was carrying about 40 or 50 people. At one point, a small patrol boat flying the French flag approached the boat and a crew member threw more life jackets, about half a dozen, to the migrants, who grabbed them.
At least 21,720 migrants have managed to cross the English Channel so far this year, according to Government figures Britishwhich is 3% more than last year, but 19% less than in the same period in 2022. The boat that broke off the French coast on Tuesday, throwing 65 people into the sea, was one of the several crossing attempts that occurred that day. According to British authorities, at least 317 migrants managed to arrive aboard five boats.
