Migrants' dreams of British future upended by deadly Channel tragedy

By Amina Ismail

CALAIS, France (Reuters) - Around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Anwar Mansour, a 17-year-old Eritrean, and some 60 other migrants including women and children boarded a 10-meter(33-foot)-long dinghy on a beach in northern France and set off across the choppy waters of the Channel for Britain.

Two hours out to sea, the vessel punctured. Within minutes it had sunk, killing at least 12 people in one of the deadliest cross-Channel migrant accidents in years.

The incident, which comes amid a sharp uptick in migrants making the perilous journey across the busy waterway, has underlined the need for London and Paris to get a firmer grip on an issue with major political implications in both nations.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure to fulfil his pledge to "smash the gangs" who bring asylum seekers to Britain in boats, and pledged deeper cooperation on the issue with President Emmanuel Macron in talks in Paris last week.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, during a visit on Tuesday to the Channel town of Boulogne-Sur-Mer from where the migrants set sail, said the French government will need to negotiate a new migration treaty between the European Union and Britain.

In a sign of the scale of the problem, Reuters reporters on Wednesday witnessed another migrant boat setting sail across the Channel, despite the deaths the day before.

Reuters interviewed eight survivors who had returned to a campsite in Calais, where many of them had been residing prior to their ill-fated journey, and spoke with another rescued migrant at the hospital in Boulogne-Sur-Mer.

Mansour told Reuters he had left his hometown of Keren, in Eritrea, in 2021 because he wanted a better education and was concerned he would be conscripted into the military like his brother. Conscription in the poor, northeastern African country is indefinite, and it can be hard to ever leave the military.

Mansour said he first migrated to Sudan, where he lived for three years. But he found conditions similar to those in Eritrea, so he decided to head to Europe. In January, he and 50 others sailed from Libya to Italy. The 24-hour trip was dangerous, but he wasn't too worried.

"What's destined will happen," he said. "No point in being scared."

After Italy, he moved to Belgium, but after five months without work in Brussels, he set his sights on Britain, where he has friends who seem to be leading a good life. An English-language education added to the UK's charms.

Mansour said he paid 1,000 euros ($1,107) for the Channel crossing, transferring the money via Western Union to an unknown person in the UK. He said he didn't know the smugglers and the captain of the boat was masked, with only his eyes showing.

The fees for crossing the Channel varied, migrants said, with rates between 700 and 1,500 euros. Few of those making the journey had life jackets, they said.

FAMILY SEPARATION

Amna, 42, and her three adolescent children were among the Eritrean migrants who had gathered at Boulogne-Sur-Mer to try to cross the Channel on Tuesday morning. They had been in Sweden before, but left after two failed asylum attempts. Fearing a similar outcome in other European Union nations, they decided to try for the UK. Still, Amna said she was aware of the risks.

"Who throws their kids into the sea unless they have no other choice," she said. "We just want to live and for (my children) to study."

As the dinghy pulled away from the beach, Amna was unable to jump into it, and watched with horror as her children headed out to sea without her.

Later, when the boat capsized panic erupted.

"People started screaming and pulling each other down," said 20-year-old Abdelwahab, who declined to give his last name. "Only God knows how we survived. I can't swim."

Like Mansour, Abdelwahab left Eritrea in 2021, following a similar path to France, where he arrived in July.

"I want to fulfil my dreams in the UK," he said. "I want to learn English and find a job. There is no freedom in Eritrea, no human rights."

Mansour, wearing a sling and looking pale, said his shoulder was dislocated as the boat sank and people scrambled for safety. He only survived by clutching onto a piece of driftwood until rescuers arrived around 15 minutes later.

Amna's three children, aged 15, 16 and 19, survived.

($1 = 0.9033 euros)

(Reporting by Amina Ismail in Boulogne-sur-Mer; Additional reporting by Marta Fiorin in Boulogne-sur-Mer; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Sandra Maler)