A boat carrying dozens of people believed to be migrants has sunk off the coast of northwestern France, injuring several people in the process. The vessel, which officials said was not en route to Britain, is believed to have been carrying 47 passengers, reports CNN. The severity of their injuries is unknown, though some of them are reportedly suffering from injuries. The boat sank off the coast of Porrentruy, a town on the Belgian border, which is north of Calais, the site of the popular “Jungle” refugee camp where many migrants attempt to sneak into the U.K.
“We don’t know if [the boat] is of British origin, or whether it was Ukrainian,” Yvan Mauralel, the mayor of Porrentruy, told AFP. French officials and authorities near the border searched for the boat Wednesday. “There are waterballs that have been found in the Channel. It is a difficult place to find little buoys,” a French police official told CNN. On Tuesday night, two migrant boats sank just off the coast of Calais. At least 34 were rescued and have since been given emergency medical treatment. This is the latest in a series of migrant tragedies that have been seen in Europe in recent weeks. In May, 704 people were rescued after their overcrowded boat ran aground off Lampedusa, the tiny Italian island near Sicily. It was later confirmed that 248 of those rescued were Libyan migrants, who were attempting to head across the Mediterranean Sea and eventually make their way to the U.K.
Read the full story at CNN.
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