London ∙ 12 people, including a pregnant woman and children, died when the boat of illegal immigrants sank in the English Channel. Around 50 people were rescued from the submerged boat by the Coast Guard, Police and Navy. Two are still missing. The search is on for them. Most of the people on the boat were women. Only eight of them had life jackets. The French Coast Guard revealed that the boat was carrying more than twice as many people as it could hold. This is the biggest boat accident involving illegal immigrants in the English Channel this year. Before this, around thirty people have died in a similar manner in various accidents this year. But this is the first time that so many people have lost their lives in a single accident.

The main cause of this type of accident is cramming more people into the boat than it can hold. Most of these accidents are caused by those who embark on the journey in search of shelter with small children without even a life jacket.

This year, 21,000 people have already arrived in Britain as refugees through the English Channel. This is much more than the number of people who crossed the border during the same period last year. The total number of arrivals in 2023 was 29,437. The only consolation is that there is a slight decrease compared to the record number reached in 2022 (45,755).

Since 2018, the total number of people who have crossed the border in illegal boats is 130,000. Afghanistan- 5370, Iran- 3844, Turkey- 2935, Syria- 2849, Eritrea- 2817, Iraq- 2508, Sudan- 2129, Albania- 755, Kuwait- 571 and others- 3607 are the number of refugees so far this year.

The previous Tory government’s plan to deport refugees crossing the sea to Rwanda was scrapped as soon as the Labor government came to power. As soon as this project was announced, the flow of refugees was reduced. But with the new government’s policy change, it is certain that one day they will get refugee status if they cross the sea. This is what motivates refugees to come to Britain at the risk of their lives.

The Prime Minister is now saying that there will be strong measures to stop the flow of refugees coming to Britain as victims of smuggling mafia groups and human traffickers. But the Prime Minister did not specify what kind of action the government is targeting. Currently, 118,882 people are waiting for refugee status in various centers in the country.