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Two people have died after a boat sank in the Channel carrying close to 50 asylum-seekers, French maritime authorities have said.
A rescue operation was launched on Wednesday morning after a life jacket was spotted in the water, with helicopters and rescue boats mobilised for the search and rescue operation, according to the French maritime prefecture for the Channel and the North Sea.
Forty-six people were rescued after the incident off the coast of Calais, which occurred shortly after 8am, authorities told Agence France-Presse.
A further two people were unconscious when brought onto one of the rescue boats and received immediate first aid, the prefecture said. However their deaths were confirmed by onshore medical teams once they reached Calais.
A search was ongoing for other people still potentially in the water, French authorities said in their statement on Wednesday morning.
An investigation has been opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office.
The latest tragedy brings the number of deaths in the Channel this year up to at least 55, and comes less than a week after a baby died while a boat carrying 65 people got into difficulty.
CEO of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, said their analysis showed that crossings were getting ever deadlier, with the total number of deaths this year being greater than the previous three years combined.
At the beginning of October, a two-year-old child was crushed to death and three other people died in two attempts to make the perilous crossing from France. French authorities said the child had died after being trampled following a “wave of panic” among the migrants trying to board a dinghy.
More follows…
