Two men have died and two young women were left with severe burns after a fire tore through a packed migrant dinghy crossing the English Channel toward Britain, in the latest deadly incident on one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.
French rescuers battled the blaze on the overcrowded vessel, pulling survivors from the water and from the burning craft. Among those rescued were two Somali women, aged 20 and 26, who suffered severe burns to their lower bodies from a mixture of seawater and petrol that had sloshed around the bottom of the boat.
One rescuer described pulling out a young woman with severe burns who was weeping and in a state of total panic because she had lost sight of her young daughter. The little girl was later found safe on dry land. Two men were also recovered in cardiac arrest; rescuers performed CPR on them for 43 minutes with the help of a nurse before they were declared dead. Officials have not yet released the names or nationalities of the two men.
A route that keeps claiming lives
The tragedy comes just days after another disaster on the same route. Last week, a ten-year-old Eritrean boy and two women were crushed to death aboard a so-called “mega-dinghy” that had boarded at Sangatte beach near Calais with around 102 people crammed onto a vessel designed to carry just 20. People smugglers reportedly charged around £1,000 per place.
That craft, described by officials as a “water taxi,” had arrived nearly empty via an inland waterway before collecting passengers from several beaches, including Wissant and Sangatte. Some ten others were injured in that incident.
Investigations under way
French prosecutors have opened criminal enquiries into both tragedies, and judicial police are investigating the smuggling networks behind the crossings. The latest deaths mean at least 26 people, including women and children, have died in the Channel this year attempting to reach Britain — many drowning, others crushed in overcrowded boats.
The worst single disaster of this kind remains November 2021, when 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank en route to the UK. Smugglers have continued to exploit periods of calm seas and good weather in recent days, launching multiple crossing attempts from the coast of northern France. In total, almost 19,000 migrants have reached England on dinghies since January.
Source: The Sun