Spanish
The body of a migrant was found this Sunday on a beach in the Pas-de-Calais, in northwestern France, and the hypothesis is being considered that the man may have lost his life while trying to cross the English Channel to the British coasts, according to the French authorities.
"The body of a young man was discovered on the beach of Saint-Étienne-au-Mont. It is very likely that he was a migrant who tried to cross to Great Britain last night," the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais reported today in a statement.
Two Somali women died overnight Friday to Saturday during one of these attempts, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, and the body of another migrant was recovered on the morning of the same day in Gravelines (north), although his death may have occurred days earlier, according to the Dunkirk prosecutor's office.
The good weather this weekend in the area multiplied the departures of illegal migrants from France to the United Kingdom and fourteen of them needed rescue operations, the Maritime Prefecture of the English Channel and the North Sea indicated today in another statement.
The Prefecture of Pas-de-Calais indicated that more than two hundred migrants have been rescued in that department alone since Saturday morning.
More than 32,000 people managed to reach the British coast aboard small boats since the beginning of the year, a record, according to data recently provided by the UK authorities.
The 33 kilometers that separate the French and British coasts pose a dangerous challenge for migrants who dare to cross them, due to the strong currents and hostile weather conditions, coupled with the intense ship traffic.
This is compounded by the precariousness of the vessels used, often inflatable, which led to the death in 2024 of at least 73 people, according to the International Organization for Migration.
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The new attempts at illegal crossings recorded this weekend occurred just a dozen days after the British Government announced the deportation to France of the first migrant within the bilateral reciprocal repatriation pact signed with Paris, better known as "one for one". This agreement allows the UK to return to the neighboring country a migrant who has crossed from there to British territory illegally in exchange for accepting an asylum seeker from French soil, provided they have not attempted to cross before and have family ties in the UK.
