Xinhua News Agency Beijing, December 15th. A small boat carrying immigrants was in distress in English Channel in the early morning of the 14th. Britain and France have sent personnel to jointly rescue them.
According to the BBC, the small boat carried about 40 people and sank in the waters of southeastern Britain, some people were killed.
The British government has not released details yet, but only said that an incident occurred in the English Channel and several relevant agencies have responded.
This is a beach taken on November 26, 2021 in Port Calais, northern France. Some illegal immigrants set out to smuggle into the UK. Xinhua News Agency issued
The British Maritime and Coast Guard has sent personnel, ships and helicopters to the waters where the incident occurred to rescue. France also sent helicopters to participate in the rescue.
In recent years, the problem of immigrants smuggling from France through the English Channel to the UK by boat has become increasingly serious, and related accidents have caused the deaths of many immigrants.
According to official UK data, 8404 people smuggled into the UK through the English Channel in 2020, with the number exceeding 28,000 last year and more than 40,000 so far this year.
On November 24, 2021, immigrants arrived on the coast of Cape Dungeres, England by boat. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Steve Finn)
Reuters reported that the number of smuggling people has exceeded 500 since last weekend. International Organization for Migration estimates that since 2014, 205 immigrants have been killed or disappeared on their way across the English Channel. Among them, on November 27 last year, a small boat sank caused 27 deaths, the largest number of people killed.
"Immigration Tide" puts pressure on the British government. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak HTML on the 213th released a number of plans to strengthen responses from a legal level, including legislation to prevent illegal immigrants from stranding in the UK. Britain and France accused each other of "irresponsible" due to immigration issues. The British side said that the French side did not effectively prevent immigrants from smuggling in accordance with the cooperation agreement, while the French side said that the other side did not "pay the bill" as agreed. (Hui Xiaoshuang)
