Five people die trying to reach Britain from northern France in bitter cold

Five migrants trying to reach Britain from northern France have died and a sixth is in critical condition in the freezing cold.

The French maritime authority said on Monday that more than 30 people had been rescued. Let us tell you that this is the first reported death of migrants on this route in 2024.

Four migrants died overnight, while the body of a fifth was later found on the beach, officials said. The group killed were trying to reach a ship near the resort town of Vimereux when their small boat ran aground in the waves at about 2:00 a.m. (0100 GMT), authorities said.

The local public prosecutor's office said that the boat was about to disembark people away from the shore when it capsized due to flood and rising tide. The Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor's office said some people were already on board the ship and others were preparing to board. The office said the victims were believed to be young men of Syrian origin.

The crew of a French ship, the Abeille Normandie, went in for rescue and found "unconscious and lifeless people" in the water, an official said, adding that the water temperature would have been about nine degrees Celsius.

Video footage showed clothes and shoes left by migrants along the Vimereux embankment. The survivors were taken to a shelter in Calais. According to the authority, more than 30 people were rescued. One person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said about 70 migrants were brought in at about 3:00 a.m., including "whole families with children, some of them very young."

Let us tell you that the area around Calais is the jump-off point for crossing the shortest border to England. It has been a center of attraction for migrants for a long time. According to the Maritime Province, twelve migrants lost their lives trying to cross the Channel in 2023.