Paris
AP
–
French authorities have announced Sunday’s discovery of bodies on the beach that was used as one of the launch points for migrants attempting dangerous waters from northern France to the UK with flimsy inflatable boats.
The province in the Pas-de-calais region of northern France called the young man’s body “highly likely” immigrants attempting to cross overnight, and was found on a long sandy beach south of the port town of Boulogne-Schulmer on Sunday morning.
Recently, crossings and death attempts have skyrocketed. The county previously reported that the two women died Saturday during another attempt to cross the English Channel.
Less than 48 hours after Friday night, authorities counted 41 crossing attempts, some of which blocked along the Pas-de-calais coastline, which patrols patrols day and night, the province said in a statement.
“There have been a huge number of Coastal pressures, and law enforcement has intervened under particularly challenging conditions, and we have decided that hostility and sometimes violence from immigrants will be at all costs,” the statement said.
However, French police have been previously observed using knives, reducing and sinking inflatable boats of migrants who have raised little or no resistance.
The two women who died Saturday morning were found in cardiac arrest after an unsuccessful attempt to cross the British waterway in a boat that drifted off after the engines were not started, Pas-de-Calais District said. The rescuers said efforts to revive them had failed.
The UK government is putting great pressure on tackling the rise in immigration from Africa and the Middle East, seeking a better life in Europe. Unauthorized migration has been an issue for several years, but in recent months it has reached the top of the political agenda.
Figures show that more than 32,000 people have arrived in the UK by boat so far this year, with the full year expected to exceed 37,000 last year. Dozens have died in recent years as they attempted to cross one of the busiest transport lanes in the world with overcrowded dinghy.
The UK government hopes that deals with French officials aimed at deporting migrants entering the country without permission to France will reduce the intersection.
