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The dead include 17 men, seven women, and three young people who “could be teenagers,” according to the French prosecutors office. One of the first rescue personnel to arrive at the scene, Charles Devos of the Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer (SNSM), said he found the dead body of a pregnant woman.
The majority of the victims were Iraqi citizens, France’s Calais port director Jean-Marc Puissesseau told CNN. Likewise, Iraqi Kurds appear to be among the victims, the Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq said Thursday. Authorities are working to establish their identities, Masrour Barzani posted on Twitter, adding that “our thoughts are with their families.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both expressed horror at the tragedy, with Macron saying his country would not let the Channel become a graveyard. The leaders agreed to step up joint efforts to prevent the migrant crossings — which have increased dramatically this year — but also accused each other of not doing enough.
In a phone call on Wednesday night, Macron went further and urged Johnson to stop politicizing the migrant crisis for domestic political gain, according to a French readout of their conversation.
On Thursday morning, the finger-pointing continued among junior politicians.
The Member of Parliament for Dover, England, where many migrants arrive from France, told CNN that the deaths in the Channel were “entirely foreseeable,” and cast the problem as a border policing issue whose solution lay in France.
“This was an entirely foreseeable tragedy that sooner or later one of these boats would capsize and people…
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Source : cnn
