English Channel Feared as Latest Drowning Risk for Migrants

The 350-mile English Channel separates southern England from northern France.

ByABC News
May 30, 2016, 2:17 PM
Coastguards rescued 18 suspected illegal immigrants from the English Channel off the Kent coast, May 28, 2016.
Coastguards rescued 18 suspected illegal immigrants from the English Channel off the Kent coast, May 28, 2016.
Graham Mitchell/Splash News

LONDON — -- Migrants could start drowning in the English Channel like thousands have perished in the Mediterranean Sea, authorities fear.

As the weather improves, more migrants may try to cross the Channel in small boats in an attempt to find alternative routes to Europe, a representative from the French authority that is in charge of guarding the body of water told ABC News.

The 350-mile English Channel separates southern England from northern France.

“It is a very dangerous route because there is very important traffic with big commercial boats, ferries and a lot of ships, and the area is not that big,” Ophelia Patry, deputy to the French Maritime Prefect overseeing the English Channel and the North Sea, told ABC News.

“When migrants try to cross the Channel, most of the time it’s during the night and they don’t have any light or way to be identified at sea. The Maritime Prefect is very concerned of the questions of migrants between France and England.”

Patry said it is possible that migrants will die trying to cross the Channel, adding that helicopters and ships are among the means authorities uses to try to identify the boats in order to keep migrants safe.

Her comments follow a recent incident Saturday evening when British authorities found a vessel in the English Channel. A total of 20 people were picked up in a search-and-rescue operation, two of them children, a spokesman the British Home Office told ABC News.

Of the 20, 18 were Albanian migrants. They are being interviewed by Border Force officers, while two British men have been accused of assisting illegal immigration, the spokesman said.

A separate empty vessel was also discovered by British authorities, according to the Home Office, which is investigating whether there is a link between the two boats.

The U.K.’s former Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, John Vine, told BBC Radio 4 that there was an "equal chance" of migrants drowning in the Channel as in the Mediterranean unless more resources are allocated

"I am not a nautical person, but I would have thought crossing the Channel - with all the hazards in terms of cross-Channel traffic as well as the weather and the sea conditions - are going to mean there is an equal chance of people losing their lives unless this is stopped," he said.

No migrants are known to have drowned in the Channel so far, while at least 9,000 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean since 2013, according to the International Organization for Migration.