France charges military personnel over deadly Channel migrant boat accident
Investigations show authorities failed to respond to the incident that claimed 27 lives, marking the deadliest migration accident on the treacherous English Channel.
Among the victims, there were six women and one young girl. Four people's bodies have yet to be discovered. / Photo: Reuters Archive
French police have taken into custody over a dozen people, including several military personnel, in connection with the tragic sinking of a migrant boat in the English Channel in 2021.
Magistrates on Thursday filed preliminary charges against five French maritime rescue personnel in a probe of the deadly sinking of the flimsy migrant craft that killed 27 people.
The five, all military personnel, were handed a preliminary charge of not assisting people in danger, judicial authorities said. Preliminary charges allow magistrates further time to investigate.
Magistrates have previously filed preliminary charges against 10 other people suspected of manslaughter and assisting the illegal entry of migrants. Three magistrates are handling the investigation.
The five military personnel now also handed charges serve at a French maritime surveillance and rescue centre for the English Channel, judicial authorities said. They are not being held in detention.
Deadliest Channel migration accident
The tragic incident occurred on November 24, 2021, in the early morning, when 27 people aged seven to 46 drowned in the English Channel near Calais.
Among the victims, there were six women and one young girl. Four people's bodies have yet to be discovered.
In an investigation published in 2022, Le Monde revealed that the people in the boat made around 15 calls to the French rescue services.
According to the judicial file reviewed and reported by Radio France, the rescue teams were not fully aware of the critical nature of the situation.
The on-duty personnel, according to the investigation, allegedly ignored the distress calls made by irregular migrants.
The investigation revealed that rescue personnel turned over the responsibility to British authorities and did not send any assistance to the drifting migrants.
The November 2021 sinking was the deadliest migration accident on the dangerous stretch of sea that separates France and Britain.
It shone a spotlight on smuggling networks that prey on migrants, and sent tensions soaring between France and Britain over how to tackle the problem.
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