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PARIS (AP) — Two women died Saturday morning while trying to
cross the English Channel from France to the U.K. on board a
makeshift boat carrying other migrants, French authorities said.
Rescuers found the women in cardiac arrest but couldn’t save
them, the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais region, in northern
France, said in a statement. A couple and their child with
hypothermia were transported to a hospital in Boulogne, it said.
The incident happened off the coast of the small town of
Neufchatel-Hardelot. Local media say over 60 migrants were
rescued overnight. The prefecture said police prevented several
attempts at crossing.
According to the prefecture, 17 migrants have died since the
beginning of the year while attempting to reach the U.K. on
board small boats from the coast of the Pas-de-Calais region.
Earlier this week, a family of three, including a small child,
became the first people sent to the U.K. by France under an
agreement in which Britain returns migrants who enter the
country without authorization and France sends vetted
asylum-seekers.
The U.K. Home Office said this week that the arrival of the
family was part of “critical first steps” in the program dubbed
“one in, one out.” Four people who arrived in Britain by boat
from France were flown back to France in recent days as part of
the arrangement.
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