At least 31 people have died after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the English Channel while trying to cross from France to Britain on Wednesday. Speaking from Calais, French Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, said: “Today is an appalling situation for France, Europe and humanity to see these people perish at sea because of traffickers”. He said that of these, five were women and one was a “little girl”. The International Organization for Migration said it was the biggest single loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014. Of the 33 people found between Calais and … Continue reading 31 people die after boat carrying migrants capsizes in English Channel

Migrant caravan heads north, in Tapanatepec Migrants from 12 countries were among 600 people found hidden in the back of two trucks in eastern Mexico on Friday, most of them from neighboring Guatemala, the government’s National Migration Institute (INM) said on Saturday. The INM said 401 of the people were from Guatemala, 53 from Honduras, 40 from the Dominican Republic, 37 from Bangladesh, 27 from Nicaragua, 18 from El Salvador and eight from Cuba. There were also six men from Ghana, four people from Venezuela, four men from Ecuador, a man from India and a man from Cameroon in the … Continue reading Migrants from 12 countries among 600 found in two trucks in Mexico

A man has admitted his part in an operation which ended in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants. Dragos Damian, 28, was extradited from Italy to face the UK courts following the investigation into the deaths of the men, women and children. The victims’ bodies were found in a sealed lorry trailer in Purfleet, Essex, on 23 October 2019. Damian admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and is due to be sentenced next year. Other members of the people smuggling gang have already been jailed for their involvement earlier this year, including four men who have received sentences of up to … Continue reading Tragic: Man admits part in plot that led to migrant deaths

An asylum seeker from Myanmar was rescued off the coast of New Zealand after he managed to survive for 23 hours in the freezing waters. The 27-year-old man, identified by local media as Min Naing, was spotted by port workers patrolling New Zealand’s northwest coast on November 2, the New Zealand Herald reported. Min Naing, who was working on a logging ship that was passing close to New Zealand, told the Herald that he put on an immersion survival suit and descended a rope to get into the sea. The case is extremely rare as asylum seekers almost never arrive in … Continue reading Desperation: An asylum seeker from Myanmar rescued after jumping from a cargo ship and surviving 23 hours in the freezing ocean

A woman was pronounced dead early Saturday morning after trying to swim across the US-Mexico border with a group of migrants, federal officials said.The western-most part of the US-Mexican border overlooks the Pacific Ocean, inside California’s Border Field State Park outside San Diego, and adjacent to a public beach in Tijuana, Mexico. US Border Patrol agents were notified shortly before midnight Friday that a group of about 70 people were trying to swim around the barrier between Tijuana, Mexico, and the beach at Border Field State Park in San Diego, US Customs and Border Protection said in a news release. The woman, … Continue reading A woman died trying to swim across the US-Mexican border

A manhunt is under way after two migrants were found dead in a minibus crammed with dozens of people which had crossed into Austria from Hungary. Austrian troops discovered the bodies on Tuesday and say the vehicle’s driver fled the scene when stopped. Some 30 migrants were on board, with most thought to be from Syria, police told the AFP news agency. The incident comes six years after authorities found 71 people dead in a van which had made a similar journey. The deaths, by suffocation, sparked widespread shock, with a Hungarian court later jailing four men over the incident. … Continue reading Austria driver sought after two migrants found dead on bus

The United States has started flying migrants out of a Texas border town that has seen an influx of mostly Haitian migrants over the past week. Three flights landed at Haiti’s Port-au-Prince airport on Sunday, each carrying 145 people, the Associated Press (AP) reports. About 13,000 would-be immigrants have gathered under a bridge connecting Del Rio in Texas to Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña. They have been waiting in a makeshift camp in temperatures of 37C (99F). An emergency US public health order known as Title 42 allows authorities to expel most migrants before they can claim asylum. Local officials have struggled … Continue reading US flies Haitian migrants back home from border

Italian coastguard vessels have rescued 539 migrants from a fishing boat drifting off the island of Lampedusa. The rescue on Saturday delivered one of the largest numbers of migrants to the Italian island in a single day. Women and children were among those on board. Some of the migrants – who had been travelling across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya – reportedly displayed signs of violence. Italian prosecutors have opened an inquiry into what may have happened. A doctor from the humanitarian group MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Alida Serrachieri, said a number of the migrants appeared to have been physically … Continue reading More than 500 people rescued off Italian island

The US Supreme Court has ordered President Joe Biden to reinstate a policy of making asylum seekers stay in Mexico while claims are processed. The policy was put in place by his predecessor, Donald Trump, as part of his measures to restrict the number of asylum seekers entering the US. But Mr Biden suspended it on his first day of office. Rights groups say the policy subjects migrants to dangerous conditions in Mexico’s border towns. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected a bid to block a Texas-based judge’s ruling requiring the government to revive the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy. … Continue reading US court rules asylum seekers must stay in Mexico

More than 50 people are feared dead after a boat capsized in the Atlantic Ocean about 220 kilometres (135 miles) off Spain’s Canary Islands. Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said a 30-year-old woman was the sole survivor saved on Thursday from the sinking dinghy, which had left Africa a week earlier carrying 53 migrants and refugees. A merchant ship had earlier spotted the vessel south of the Canary Islands and alerted Spanish emergency services. The woman was clinging to the sinking craft with a dead man and a dead woman next to her, a rescue service official, who spoke on condition … Continue reading OMG: 52 people feared dead as boat capsizes near Canary Islands

Up to 47 people including three minors are missing and suspected to have died after their boat encountered engine trouble on the passage from Western Sahara to Spain’s Canary Islands, the United Nations migration agency said on Tuesday. A boat carrying 54 people left Laayoune in Western Sahara on August 3 before the engine failed, according to the testimony of seven survivors who were picked up by the Mauritanian coastguard. “We are working with the Mauritanian authorities to search for the bodies of those migrants who died en route to the Canary Islands,” said Boubacar Seybou, an IOM spokesman. Fuerteventura, … Continue reading Dozens of migrants lost at sea off Mauritanian coast

At least 10 people have been killed and 20 injured after the van they were travelling in crashed in Texas. US authorities said the vehicle was driving at high speed when it tried to veer off a highway and hit a metal pole and stop sign in the city of Encino. A Texas state official said 30 people were onboard, but the van had only been designed to carry 15 passengers. It is believed that some of the passengers were undocumented migrants who had crossed the border from Mexico. The driver and nine passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. … Continue reading Tragic: Migrant van crash kills at least 10 in Texas