Update: Death toll rises to 27 in migrant boat tragedy

Update: Death toll rises to 27 in migrant boat tragedy.

The migrant boat capsized in the Channel yesterday (November 24).

27 PEOPLE have been confirmed dead in the migrant boat tragedy that occurred yesterday (November 24) which capsized while trying to cross the Channel from France to England. Included among those that sadly lost their lives were five women and a girl – one of the women was reportedly pregnant.

French interior minister Gerard Darmanin told French radio station RTL that the sinking of the migrant boat was an “absolute tragedy” and although two people were rescued, the French interior minister likened the boat to “a pool you blow up in your garden”.

According to Darmanin, five suspects have been arrested and that the boat used was purchased in Germany and had a German vehicle registration.

“Those responsible for the tragedy which took place yesterday in the Channel are the smugglers, who for a few thousand euros promise Eldorado in England. The smugglers are criminals, this tragedy reminds us, painfully,” he said.

“It’s an international problem… We tell our Belgian, German and British friends they should help us fight traffickers that work at an international level,” Mr Darmanin added.

France’s vice president of transport for the northern Hauts-de-France region, Franck Dhersin, told French TV station BFMTV that arrests must be made at the top of these human smuggling networks to stop these tragic events from happening again.

“In France what do we do? We arrest the smugglers…To fight them, there’s only one way – we need to stop the organisations, you need to arrest the mafia chiefs,” he said.

“And the mafia chiefs live in London… They live in London peacefully, in beautiful villas, they earn hundreds of millions of euros every year, and they reinvest that money in the City. And so it’s very easy for the tax authorities to find them”.

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