French authorities announced that six people died after a migrant boat sank while trying to cross the English Channel from France to Britain early Saturday morning, with two others reportedly missing. The regional maritime authority stated that French and British rescue boats rescued around 60 migrants and took them to French or British shores, adding that search and rescue operations are still ongoing.
Another boat carrying 59 migrants was also rescued on Saturday in Porto Empedocle, located in southern Sicily, amid an increasing number of attempts at the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean Sea. The charity organization "Emergency" reported that seven women and 24 children were among the 76 people rescued in international waters in the Maltese search and rescue area on Friday evening. The migrants waved and cheered when the Emergency crew appeared in a rubber dinghy launched from the main rescue ship.
The organization added that the 12-meter migrant boat had set sail from Libya late Thursday and that those rescued came from Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Syria. Italian authorities assisted in coordinating the rescue operation, and the charity rescue ship "Life Support" is expected to arrive in Naples next Monday.
The charity organization "Open Arms," which also conducts missions in the Mediterranean, reported that its rescue yacht "Astral" set sail for Sicily carrying 59 people, including five children, two of whom are only a few weeks old. Open Arms appealed to Italian authorities to allocate a port for the yacht after initially being asked to return the migrants to Tunisia.
Data from the Ministry of the Interior shows that Italy, a key route to Europe for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and migrants, has seen nearly 95,000 arrivals by sea since the beginning of the year, more than double the number during the same period last year. At least six others were also reported dead on Saturday, with more than 50 people rescued after a migrant boat sank while trying to cross the channel from France to Britain.
People smugglers often overcrowd dilapidated boats, barely allowing them to float and putting passengers at risk from rough waves during their attempts to reach British shores. Volunteer Ann Turrell, who was on one of the rescue boats, described the arduous efforts of migrants trying to bail water out of their sinking vessel with their shoes. She stated via phone upon returning to shore, “There were many people on the (migrant) boat.”
