France beefs up sea rescue work, spars with UK over migrant deaths

France said on Thursday it was mobilising reservists and beefing up sea rescue operations as London and Paris traded blame over the deaths of 27 migrants trying to reach Britain in an inflatable dinghy.

The migrants - including a child - drowned when their dinghy deflated in the Channel on Wednesday, one of many such risky journeys attempted each year in rickety, overloaded boats as people flee poverty and conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond.

The deaths have created more animosity between countries already at odds over Brexit, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying France was at fault and French Interior Minister Gerald accusing Britain of “bad immigration management”.

President Emmanuel Macron defended Paris’s actions but said France was merely a transit country for many migrants and more European cooperation was needed to tackle illegal immigration. “I will ... say very clearly that our security forces are mobilised day and night,” Macron said during a visit to the Croatian capital Zagreb, promising “maximum mobilisation” of French forces, with reservists and drones watching the coast.

Wednesday’s incident was the worst of its kind on record in the waterway separating Britain and France, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

With relations fraught over Brexit and immigration, much of the focus on Thursday was on who should bear responsibility, even if both sides vowed to seek joint solutions.

Britain repeated an offer to have joint British-French patrols off the French coast near Calais.
CALAIS, France, Nov 25 (Reuters)