More boat sinkings, many deaths, hundreds of people adrift...

A boat sinking in the English Channel and Tunisia on August 12 killed at least eight people while the SOS Mediterranee organization rescued more than 600 migrants drifting in the Mediterranean for the past two days.

Hơn 100.000 người di cư đã từ Pháp vượt qua eo biển Manche trên những chiếc thuyền nhỏ để đến Anh kể từ khi Anh bắt đầu công khai thống kê những người đến nước này vào năm 2018. (Nguồn: AFP)

More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel from France to Britain since Britain began publicly recording arrivals in 2018. (Source: AFP)

The route through the English Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping routes, with numerous shipwrecks and migrant deaths over the past decade.

Le Figaro newspaper quoted French officials as saying that six migrants died when their boat sank in the English Channel while en route to England on the morning of August 12.

Four French ships and one helicopter, along with two British ships, rescued 55 migrants and 5-10 people are still missing.

Since 2018, more than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Channel from France in small boats to the UK. In November 2021, 27 migrants died when their boat capsized. Last year, five migrants died and four others went missing while attempting to cross the Channel.

French authorities have stepped up patrols and other deterrent measures after Britain agreed in March to transfer hundreds of millions of euros a year to France to support the effort.

Also on August 12, AFP reported that in Tunisia, at least two Tunisians, including a child, died and five others were missing when their boat sank off the southeast coast.

According to the country's coast guard, the boat carrying 20 Tunisians on a journey to Europe sank 120 meters off the coast of the city of Gabes. Rescuers have rescued 13 people and are continuing to search for the missing.

Tunisia is the main gateway for migrants from this country and abroad trying to reach Europe in makeshift boats.

Tàu cứu hộ Ocean Viking giải cứu được hơn 600 người di cư đang lênh đênh trên Địa Trung Hải. (Nguồn: AP)

The Ocean Viking rescue ship has rescued more than 600 migrants in the past two days. (Source: AP)

Earlier, SOS Mediterranee said on August 11 that the rescue ship Ocean Viking had rescued 623 migrants who had been drifting in the Mediterranean for the past two days. Most of the migrants were from Sudan, while the rest were from Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin and Bangladesh.

These people were taken to the island of Lampedusa or the port of Civitavecchia, northwest of the capital Rome.

The central Mediterranean is the world’s most dangerous sea route for migrants. At least 1,848 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy and Malta this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. That’s up from the 1,417 who died in all of 2022.

On the same day, the Morroco News Agency (MAP) reported that the country's navy rescued more than 60 migrants in the South Sahara region of Africa, when their boat encountered problems in the Atlantic Ocean, off the town of Tarfaya.

The men were given first aid before being taken to the port of Laayoune in Western Sahara for processing.

Moroccan authorities intercepted 26,000 cases of irregular migration in the first five months of this year.

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