A survivor of a migrant boat that capsized in the Channel has described the harrowing moment five of those onboard died after going overboard in the freezing waters.
The group of up to 80 Syrians and Iraqis – including babies and children – ran into difficulties off the coast of northern France after attempting the crossing in pitch darkness in the early hours of Sunday.
The boat, which was carrying at least ten young children including a one month old baby, tried to launch from a beach at the resort of Wimereux, some 20 miles around the coast from Calais, when it overturned at 1.45am.
One survivor told the La Voix du Nord newspaper: ‘We were drowning straight away.’
Some 72 people were rescued from the freezing sea by French officials, with 20 suffering from advanced hypothermia including two young children and a pregnant woman who needed urgent care.
In a separate incident, three boats carrying 124 migrants were brought in to Dover on Saturday followed by another 139 on Sunday, according to official data. These were the first successful crossings in 2024 and followed a 27-day hiatus – the longest since 2018.
Survivors of the migrant boat tragedy were taken by coach to a reception centre in Calais. They included parents with young children
The group had tried to launch a boat from a beach in the resort town of Wimereux
A group of police watches on as migrants are brought to an accommodation centre
A still photo of survivors of the shipwreck arriving at the Calais reception centre
Migrants wear foil blankets to keep them warm inside Wimereux village hall
Sunday’s tragedy – the first reported migrant deaths in the Channel this year – led to fresh calls for decisive action on the small boats crisis.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the ‘heart-breaking’ deaths shows that ‘we’ve got to stop this illegal trade in human beings’.
The former prime minister claimed the latest tragedy showed an urgency for Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda policy which is returning to the Commons for crunch votes this week.
‘You can only think about what an appalling end it would be, and the cold waters of the Channel in the middle of the night.
‘It breaks my heart to hear about it,’ Lord Cameron told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.
The French maritime authorities launched a major rescue operation after spotting the migrants in difficulty just off the beach.
A 29-year-old Sudanese man who was part of the botched crossing attempt told French newspaper La Voix Du Nord that he saw people disappear under the dark and freezing waters.
‘Just a few metres into the sea and the water was up to our chest. People managed to grab the boat and climb in. Others didn’t..
‘The waves were taking us back to the beach. I saw people disappear when they jumped off the boat,’ he said.
A tugboat patrolling the coast went to the rescue and found several unconscious people in the water.
‘They got into trouble at around 2am [local time],’ said a French emergency services source.
‘A boat launched at Wimereux, but it was overloaded with more than 70 people, and some of those who wanted to travel in the boat ended up in the sea.’
Four bodies were found at the scene by rescuers while a fifth was found washed up on the beach a few hundred metres away by a walker later that morning.
While the dead are yet to be formally identified they are believed to have come from Syria and Iraq. Only one had identity documents on their person which showed they were born in 1996.
Emergency services resuscitated a sixth victim in cardiac arrest at the scene but the young adult remains in a critical condition in intensive care.
A French navy helicopter and several rescue vessels as well as more than 50 firefighters were involved in the search and rescue operation.
Dozens of people were pulled from the cold water but the overnight rescue effort was complicated as the waters were too shallow for the French navy’s boats that came to help, the local prefecture said.
The boat, which was carrying at least ten young children including a one month old baby, attempted to launch in darkness from a beach at the resort of Wimereux (pictured)
Some 72 people were rescued from the freezing sea with 20 suffering from advanced hypothermia. Pictured is the beach at Wimereux
In a separate incident, the first migrants to cross the English Channel to the UK in 2024 were brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel on Saturday, January 13
Imogen Hardman from the refugee charity Care4Calais who met with some of the survivors from the boat – including two teenage boys aged 16 and 17 from Syria – told Channel 4 that they had been left ‘traumatised’ by their terrifying ordeal.
‘They were extremely traumatised, they were still soaked through and incredibly shaken up. They spoke with confusion and reiterated many times how cold they were and that water was.
‘The water that those people was low as 8 degrees which is really very cold and you have such a have a small amount of time to survive in that.’
The group is believed to have been among several others who had tried to take advantage of lighter winds over the weekend after weeks of bad weather despite the cold temperatures.
Mathilde Potel, commissioner for the police department at the French northern borders, said: ‘But we can clearly see that the situation was not more favourable. The people died on the beach.’
The deadly attempted crossing is thought to have been organised by people smugglers triggering a criminal enquiry.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the ‘heart-breaking’ deaths shows that ‘we’ve got to stop this illegal trade in human beings’
Authorities have launched an investigation into aggravated manslaughter and aiding illegal entry or stay, the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office revealed.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We can confirm there has been an incident in the Channel involving a small boat in French waters.
‘Our thoughts are with all those involved. French authorities are leading the response and investigation.’
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the Channel deaths ‘must be a wake up call to take decisive action’ – including the provision of safe routes for those fleeing war.