In the week, when not less than 27 migrants have drowned in the English Channel, the UK and France have called on each other to do more to prevent such tragedies from happening again, British news portal The Guardian reports.
As many as thirty-four people were believed to have been on the boat, when it sank in the English Channel on Wednesday, November 24. The UN International Organisation for Migration has stated that this was the biggest single loss of life in the sea territory since it began collecting data in 2014. Two survivors are in intensive care.
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The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson renewed calls for France to agree to joint police patrols along the Channel coast, and said Wednesday’s incident highlighted how efforts by French authorities to patrol their beaches «haven’t been enough». «We’ve had difficulties persuading some of our partners, particularly the French, to do things in a way that we think the situation deserves,» he said on Wednesday. «I understand the difficulties that all countries face, but what we want now is to do more together – and that’s the offer we are making.»
France has thus far resisted UK offers to send police and border guards to mount joint patrols amid concerns about the implications for national sovereignty. French President Emmanuel Macron also called for an emergency meeting of European government ministers and an immediate funding boost for the EU’s border agency, Frontex, The Guardian reports.
Migrant tragedy in English Channel strains Paris-London relations
