France vows more patrols at English Channel

France has promised to adequately patrol its side of the 34-kilometer-wide English Channel following the recent drowning deaths of six migrants.

The Channel, which separates France from the United Kingdom, was the scene of a small boat capsizing on Saturday and is heavily used by migrants wanting to enter the UK to claim asylum.

Following the tragedy, France's coast guard said it will ensure at least six patrol boats and a helicopter to actively patrol the waterway.

Paris prosecutors on Sunday took over the investigation into the deaths of the six migrants, who were all men from Afghanistan, as police hunted the traffickers responsible.

Hours after the tragedy, prosecutors in the channel port of Boulogne opened an investigation on Saturday, but the investigation was switched to Paris, officials in both offices told Agence France-Presse.

An unnamed spokesman for Premar, the French maritime authority responsible for the English Channel, said France will do all it can to stop migrants crossing the waterway, which is the world's busiest by vessel movements.

French media said most people on the inflatable were not wearing life preservers. Reports spoke of it running out of fuel before capsizing.

Prosecutors are considering charging the people smugglers in charge of the boat with manslaughter.

Herve Berville, France's secretary of state for the sea, was quoted by The Guardian as saying that traffickers who loaded "more than 60 people in an inflatable" in storm conditions clearly had no scruples.

Saturday's tragedy was the most deadly in the English Channel since November 2021, when 27 migrants drowned.

Frequently, in the aftermath of such incidents, the UK and France present conflicting accounts of which nation should have intervened first.

Debate rekindled

The recent deaths have rekindled debate about how migrants can be discouraged from trying to enter the UK. London said it wants to send intercepted migrants back to Europe for processing, but the European Union has refused to discuss the idea.

Additionally, French President Emmanuel Macron said he will not talk directly to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about the issue, but that talks should be handled by the EU.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has ruled out the bloc accepting migrants back from the UK under any circumstances, The Times newspaper reported.

According to official records, 100,000 migrants have been intercepted crossing the English Channel in small boats since 2018. Others have made the crossing undetected or crossed in the back of vehicles.

Agencies contributed to this story.