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CALAIS, France , Nov 25 (AP) \u2014 President Emmanuel Macron appealed Thursday to neighboring European countries to do more to stop illegal migration into France after at least 27 people died trying to cross the English Channel.<\/p>\n
Macron said that when migrants arrive on French shores with hopes of heading to Britain \u201cit is already too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking a day after the deadliest migration tragedy to date on the dangerous sea lane that separates France and Britain, Macron said France is deploying army drones as part of stepped-up efforts to patrol the northern French coastline and help rescue migrants at sea.<\/p>\n
But he also said that France is a \u201ctransit country\u201d for migrants aiming for Britain and that a greater collective effort is needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to strengthen cooperation with Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, but also the British and the (European) Commission,\u201d he said on a visit to Croatia. \u201cWe need stronger European cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The French leader described the dead in Wednesday\u2019s sinking as \u201cvictims of the worst system, that of smugglers and human traffickers.\u201d<\/p>\n
France has never had so many officers mobilized against illegal migration and its commitment is \u201ctotal,\u201d he said. But he also made clear that it wants more help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen these women and men arrive on the shores of the English Channel it is already too late,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The French prosecutors\u2019 office tasked with investigating the sinking said the dead included 17 men, seven women and two boys and one girl thought to be teenagers. Magistrates were investigating potential charges of homicide, unintentional wounding, assisting illegal migration and criminal conspiracy, the prosecutors\u2019 office said.<\/p>\n
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said children and pregnant women were among the dead.<\/p>\n
He announced the arrest of a fifth suspected smuggler thought to have been involved. He said authorities are working to determine the victims\u2019 nationalities. Two survivors were treated for hypothermia. One is Iraqi, the other Somali, Darmanin said.<\/p>\n
In their immediate response to the sinking, French authorities initially gave slightly differing figures on the numbers of dead, from at least 27 to 31. The figure that Darmanin used Thursday morning on RTL radio was 27.<\/p>\n
Darmanin on Wednesday had already announced the arrest of four suspected smugglers on suspicion of being linked to the sunken boat. He told RTL that a fifth suspected smuggler was picked up overnight.<\/p>\n
The fifth suspect was driving a vehicle registered in Germany, Darmanin said. He said criminal groups in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Britain are behind people-smuggling networks.<\/p>\n
He also called on those countries to cooperate better in the battle against smugglers, saying they don\u2019t always respond fully to French judicial requests for information.<\/p>\n
\u201cBritain and France must work together. We must no longer be, in effect, the only ones able to fight the smugglers,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe smugglers buy boats, Zodiacs, in Germany with cash,\u201d he added. \u201cThe smuggler arrested overnight has German plates; he bought his Zodiacs in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister also took a swipe at British government migration policies, saying France expels more people living in the country without legal permission than the U.K. Illegal migration from France\u2019s northern shores to Britain has long been a source of tension between the two countries, with both sides blaming each other even as their police forces work together to try to stop unseaworthy boats from crossing the English Channel. The issue is often used by politicians on both sides pushing an anti-migration agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, immigration is badly managed in Britain,\u201d Darmanin said.<\/p>\n
He also suggested that by hiring people living in the country illegally, British employers are encouraging illegal migration to English shores.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnglish employers use this labor to make the things that the English manufacture and consume,\u201d he said. \u201cWe say reform your labor market. Tell English employers that we need them to be as patriotic as the conservative government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ever-increasing numbers of people fleeing conflict or poverty in Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Eritrea or elsewhere are risking the perilous journey in small, unseaworthy craft from France, hoping to win asylum or find better opportunities in Britain. The crossings have tripled this year compared to 2020.<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Macron spoke after Wednesday\u2019s tragedy and agreed \u201cthat it is vital to keep all options on the table to stop these lethal crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs behind them,\u201d Johnson\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
Macron advocated an immediate funding boost for the European Union\u2019s border agency, Frontex, and an emergency meeting of European government ministers, according to his office.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrance will not allow the Channel to become a cemetery,\u201d Macron said.<\/p>\n
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