Six die as Britain-bound migrant boat capsizes in Channel

The Star

Six people died after a migrant boat trying to cross the Channel from France to Britain capsized early on Saturday (Aug 12), and another two people were possibly missing, French authorities said.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yc5tha4c  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 Authorities say at least six people died and dozens were rescued after a migrant boat trying

00:05 to cross the Channel from France capsized.

00:08 It happened early on Saturday.

00:10 A local mayor said a vast rescue operation was launched around 6am local time as dozens

00:16 of migrant boats tried to make the crossing at the same time.

00:20 Several of the bodies were found near the coastal town of Saint-Gat, he added.

00:24 The head of the local French National Sea Rescue Society is Jean-Pierre Fino.

00:28 "They were in trouble," he said.

00:32 "There was the problem of seasickness and then also the boats are quite simply overloaded."

00:37 Nearly 60 migrants were saved by French and UK rescue boats and brought to French or British

00:45 shores, a maritime prefecture said.

00:48 Search and rescue operations were still ongoing in the Channel between France and Britain

00:52 on Saturday afternoon.

00:54 It's one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong, making the crossing

00:58 on small boats dangerous.

01:00 More migrants were seen disembarking from a UK Border Force ship in Dover on Saturday

01:05 morning.

01:06 The British Coast Guard said all those on board and other small boats were rescued in

01:09 a separate incident on Saturday.

01:12 Human traffickers typically overload rickety dinghies, leaving them barely afloat and at

01:16 risk of being lashed by the waves as they try to reach British shores.

01:20 UK government figures show that the number of migrant Channel crossings since the start

01:25 of 2018 passed 100,000 this week.

01:28 [END]

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