The system will see in a second step the arrival of air drones, “which will participate in a better apprehension in real time of the maritime situation,” said the general secretariat of the sea on Wednesday.
MO12345LEMONDE with AFP
France will charter two additional ships in the Channel to carry out rescue operations on this sea route taken by many migrants wanting to join the English coast, the general secretariat of the sea, organization placed on Wednesday, November 30, under the authority of the Prime Minister. This year, more than 40,000 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom aboard small boats.
The General Secretariat for the Sea specified in a press release:
“Faced with the increase in the number of crossing attempts (…) Despite the risks involved in precarious boats, the Prime Minister decided to strengthen the rescue at sea in the coming weeks.”
This strengthening “is based first of all on the charter of two additional ships specifically dedicated to this mission, a requisition procedure being envisaged so that the availability of these additional means intended to save lives is as fast as possible” , continued the general secretariat, led by the former police prefect of Paris Didier Lallement.
air drones
The organization has justified these additional means and the schedule of the announcement by “the arrival of a colder time” and “serious accident possibilities” which “increase for migrants who use nautical means endangering them on the most frequented sea route in the world “.
“The system will see in a second step the arrival of air drones, which will participate in a better apprehension in real time of the maritime situation, especially during attempted simultaneous crossings of several boats”, it is said in the press release.
The announcement comes a year after the death of at least twenty-seven migrants on November 24, 2021 during the sinking of their boat. In mid-November, MO12345lemonde, who consulted elements of the judicial inquiry carried out in Paris on this drama, explained that the shipwrecked called the French maritime authorities to ask for help, in vain. /p>
In a telephone conversation with these maritime authorities, a migrant declares: “help please (…) I am in the water.” “Yes, but you are in English waters, sir”, him replies his interlocutor. “No, not English waters, French waters, please, can you come quickly,” he also begs, before the conversation is cut.