Rescue operations multiplied on the night of March 2 to 3 when several boats with migrants on board were in difficulty in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais. With the return of milder weather on the Channel, the situation was predictable for the associations which are once again denouncing the government’s policy.
After several weeks of strong winds on the English Channel, the weather forecast had predicted a return to calm. For Jean-Claude Lenoir, president of The Migrant Inn, attempts to cross to England were unfortunately predictable. “The weather forecast had announced flat seas. Even if the conditions remain tricky with the cold, the resumption of crossing the English Channel, that was for sure! We had seen a lot of people return who we know were there to reach the British coast.“
On the night of Wednesday March 2 to Thursday March 3, 2022 until the day, the regional operational center for surveillance and rescue (CROSS) Gris-Nez indeed identified several boats in difficulty in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais. Many nautical means are then engaged to help people in difficulty.
Among them, the intervention, assistance and rescue tug (RIAS) Bee Languedoc, chartered by the French Navy, is engaged in a first operation. “Arriving in the area, the RIAS Abeille Languedoc notes that the boat has taken on water and that some of the castaways are at sea” specifies the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea in a press release. The tug recovers 43 shipwrecked people on board then in a second time it intervenes on the rescue of 49 others. In parallel, the helicopter Dauphinof the French Navy, is also engaged to carry out searches and to ensure that all the shipwrecked have been rescued.
The all-weather canoe John Bart II of the SNSM of Dunkirk (59) is also engaged in a rescue operation to rescue 41 shipwrecked people. They will be dropped off at the port of Dunkirk. For its part, the public service patrol (PSP) Plover of the French Navy rescued 16 shipwrecked people whom he dropped off at the port of Calais. Finally, the French Customs Coast Guard patrol vessel Jacques Oudart Fourmentin assists 46 shipwrecked people and brings them back to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The association Utopia 56 welcomes this rescue operation. “the Calaisis is such hellrecalls Chrystel Chatoux, co-president of the association, It’s a relief that the rescue went well. We remember the tragedy, at the end of November 2021, in which 27 people in exile had died.
The rescue carried out, the volunteers of Utopia 56 once again noticed, on the ground, what they consider to be a serious failure: inadequate care. “We had a team that was there in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer when the castaways were disembarked. A bus brought them to the station and there they were lefts for account, the clothes still soaked.“
Chrystel Chatoux today denounces the lack of shelter: “We distributed them dry clothes, water, but when we called 115 in the early afternoon, we were told that there were no places for them and we were advised to call back at 9 p.m.”
These people in exile come from Egypt, Syria, Iraq or Iran. “Among the fifty present in Boulogne, there were 3 families with young children“, specifies the co-president of Utopia 56. But there is something even more serious for her: “free trains are only for Ukrainiens“explained to them a SNCF representative when the castaways wanted to board. Chrystel Chatoux denounces the attitude of the French authorities: “rail security officers boarded to bring out any people they believed to be among the rescued exiles.“
Jen-Claude Lenoir is also outraged by such a difference in treatment. It calls for the establishment of areal humanitarian policy for France“and hope”that a politician will finally dare to say that all people in exile must be treated in the same way“.
Between a refugee leaving Ukraine and those fleeing another war zone, what is the difference? The horror of a war is the same everywhere!
Jen-Claude Lenoir, president of the Auberge des Migrants
The maritime prefecture for its part recalls in its press release that all the castaways, once back at the dock, were taken care of by the border police (PAF) and the departmental fire and rescue services (SDIS) . “The maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea warns anyone who plans to cross the Channel about the risks involved. This maritime sector is one of the busiest areas in the world, the weather conditions are often difficult, it is therefore a particularly dangerous sector, especially in winter when the water temperature drops.“
If you are a victim or witness of an incident at sea, contact the emergency services by telephone by dialing 196 or by VHF on channel 16.