France, UK authorities face manslaughter lawsuit over deaths of migrants in Channel boat tragedy
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it has received a manslaughter lawsuit for failure to help in the tragic capsizing last month of a boat in the English Channel that cost the lives of at least 27 people trying to reach Britain.
The manslaughter lawsuit, filed Friday by the French humanitarian organization Utopia 56, accuses the maritime prefect of the Channel and North Sea, the Regional Operational Centre for Surveillance and Rescue of Gris-Nez in the Pas-de-Calais and the British Coast Guard of not doing enough to prevent the deaths.
The only two survivors of the disaster told Kurdish media that the migrants on the boat made distress calls that were ignored as their canoe deflated and their engine broke. They claim the British said the boat was in French waters, and the French the reverse. These accounts were confirmed by victim family members, who were in telephone contact during the attempted crossing.
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