At least four dead, dozens rescued in Channel small boat incident

Emergency staff remove a stretcher and body bag from the Dover lifeboat after it returned to the Port of Dover following a large search and rescue operation launched in the Channel off the coast of Dungeness, in Kent, Wednesday Dec. 14, 2022.
| Photo Credit: AP

At least four people died when a small boat apparently packed with migrants capsized in freezing temperatures in the Channel overnight, the UK government said on Wednesday.

Dozens of others were plucked from the waters of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in a large-scale rescue operation involving UK and French emergency services.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it a “tragic loss of human life”, just as he tries to tighten rules to prevent record numbers of migrants from attempting the crossing.

British media said earlier that 43 people were rescued, including more than 30 who had fallen overboard, with fears the death toll will rise.

Migrants have been intercepted regularly in the Channel in recent years, using small boats ill-suited for trips on the open sea.

At least 27 people drowned while attempting to cross the Channel in a dinghy on November 24 last year.

The International Organization for Migration estimates that 205 migrants have been recorded as missing in the Channel since 2014.

Nikolai Posner, from the Utopia 56 group helping migrants in northern France, said they received a voice message and location notification from a boat in distress at 2:53 am local time (0153 GMT).

“We forwarded it to the French and British coastguard by phone. At 3:40 am (0240 GMT), the French coastguard told us the British were handling it,” he told AFP.

“The location that was sent to us was in French waters. At 2:59 am the person who contacted us was no longer receiving messages on WhatsApp.”

Posner, however, said he could not be sure if the message originated from the same small boat.