WIMEREUX, France (AP) — Just a day after 12 migrants died in a failed effort to cross the English Channel aboard an small inflatable, another boat carrying several dozen people appears to be making another attempt from the coast of northern France on Wednesday, seemingly trying to head toward Britain.
Associated Press journalists on a beach in Wimereux, on the northern French coastline and close to the site of Tuesday’s deadly sinking, are broadcasting live video of an inflatable boat crowded with people, seemingly migrants, out at sea.
The boat is so laden that some of those aboard, crammed side-by-side on the inflatable tubes, have their legs over the sides.
Many are wearing orange life preservers. A small patrol boat flying a French flag approached the inflatable at one point and a crew person aboard then tossed more orange life vests — about half a dozen of them — to people aboard the vessel, who caught them.
Another larger patrol vessel with a French tricolor stripe on its side is shadowing the inflatable from a distance away. The gray seas of the English Channel are comparatively calm, with small waves lapping against the beach, where people are strolling and walking dogs.
Still, the vessel appears to making only slow headway. Even though AP’s journalists have been filming it for more than an hour, it remains clearly visible from shore, with the small patrol vessel buzzing around it.
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