Migrants undeterred by deaths to continue Channel crossing attempts - BBC News

Prospective migrants trying to reach the UK from France say smuggling operations are continuing after Tuesday's tragedy.

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The BBC's Andrew Harding witnesses people clambering aboard a small boat bound for the UK

The wind, which picked up during the day on Tuesday and made it impossible for small boats to attempt more Channel crossings, now looks to be easing. Already, around Calais, there are indications that, despite yesterday's deaths, smugglers are starting to shepherd migrants towards the dunes along the coast to prepare for more launches.

We saw a group of Vietnamese, who have recently begun arriving in northern France in large numbers, setting off by bus. The French police estimate that the Vietnamese, many of whom appear to be escaping debts to gangsters at home, now make up 20% of all those attempting to cross the Channel.

In the seaside resort town of Wimereux, locals have been digesting the news that 10 people have now died on their beaches this year, with five drowning off a slipway in January, and five more now dying in the waters off a long beach near the golf course north of the town.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68891950

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