a tragedy in the channel

Pregnant women and three children are among 27 people who drowned while trying to cross the Channel in an inflatable boat. The tragedy happened on Wednesday and is the deadliest since the migration crisis began.

diane taylor Has been reporting on the crisis from both sides of the Channel for years as people-smugglers have shifted their attention from lorries to the more dangerous route in small boats on the 21-mile stretch of water. she tells Hannah Moore At the core of that problem lies the political failure of both Britain and France to provide adequate safe and legal routes of asylum.

we also listen but, a 28-year-old man from Iran who has fled religious persecution in his home country and arrived in Britain after a gruesome previous attempt, was rescued by a passing ship with passengers in his dinghy and returned to France.

On Thursday morning, despite the tragedy that had unfolded just hours earlier, more people boarded the barely seaworthy small boats to attempt the same crossing.

Archive: Sky News; BBC; Parliament Live



Police patrol the beach of Vimarex in search of migrants.

Photo: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

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