At least five individuals perish while attempting to cross the English Channel, with the coastguard reporting "lifeless bodies"
A police operation is under way after reports at least five people have died during an attempt to cross the Channel with coast guards reporting ’lifeless bodies’
At least five UK-bound people died during an attempt to cross the English Channel by small boats today with reports of "lifeless bodies".
Hundreds set off in flimsy craft from France in the early hours of Tuesday but got into difficulty off the coast at Boulogne sur Mer. An emergency operation was launched by the French coastguard and by 11am at least five people were reported drowned.
The French coast guard confirmed there was a failed attempt to cross the Channel and police were at a beach following the incident today. A spokeswoman did not say how many people were involved but she did reveal there were several "lifeless bodies".
Many people were being rescued and taken to the beach at Wimereux, near Boulogne. "The situation is ongoing and multiple search and rescue teams are in the area," also said a spokesman for the French coastguards. It follows five migrants dying while trying to get to Britain on January 14.
Some 29,000 people reached the UK in small boats in 2023, despite the British government saying that stopping them was a priority. And the tragedy comes hours after the UK’s government’s controversial Rwanda bill - intended to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats - was passed. Rishi Sunak said "nothing will stand in our way" of getting flights to Rwanda off the ground, as the Government braced itself for legal challenges to the scheme to send asylum seekers to the east African country.
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration Bill) cleared Parliament shortly after midnight after peers backed down, ending resistance to the scheme. Preparations for the first flights to Rwanda will begin within days, with asylum seekers who could be relocated being identified and potentially detained. Charter planes are expected to leave for Rwanda in 10-12 weeks, with Mr Sunak promising "multiple flights a month", although minsters conceded numbers being sent to Kigali would be small at first.
The Prime Minister said: "The passing of this landmark legislation is not just a step forward but a fundamental change in the global equation on migration. We introduced the Rwanda Bill to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs who exploit them.
"The passing of this legislation will allow us to do that and make it very clear that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay. Our focus is to now get flights off the ground, and I am clear that nothing will stand in our way of doing that and saving lives."
Mr Sunak has insisted that he will not let the European Court of Human Rights block flights to Rwanda. The court is an institution of the Council of Europe, which urged Mr Sunak to abandon the Rwanda plan. The council’s human rights commissioner Michael O’Flaherty said: "The adoption of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill by the UK Parliament raises major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law more generally.
"The United Kingdom Government should refrain from removing people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the Bill’s effective infringement of judicial independence." The charity Freedom from Torture, alongside Amnesty International and Liberty, criticised the Government for ignoring the findings of the Supreme Court, which ruled the policy was unlawful in November. The groups said the Bill posed "a significant threat to the rule of law" by undermining what protected people from an abuse of power by the state, and described Parliament as a "crime scene".
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