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French Coastguard: One Dead after Migrant Dinghy Flounders in Channel

(FILES) This photograph taken on August 29, 2023, shows a French gendarme vehicle patrolling near the beach of Gravelines, northern France, to prevent migrants from being smuggled to Britain. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph taken on August 29, 2023, shows a French gendarme vehicle patrolling near the beach of Gravelines, northern France, to prevent migrants from being smuggled to Britain. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
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French Coastguard: One Dead after Migrant Dinghy Flounders in Channel

(FILES) This photograph taken on August 29, 2023, shows a French gendarme vehicle patrolling near the beach of Gravelines, northern France, to prevent migrants from being smuggled to Britain. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph taken on August 29, 2023, shows a French gendarme vehicle patrolling near the beach of Gravelines, northern France, to prevent migrants from being smuggled to Britain. (Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP)

One person drowned and another is critically ill after an inflatable dinghy carrying 66 migrants towards Britain ran into difficulty off the northern French coast, the French coastguard said on Friday.

French rescuers reached the distressed boat at about 1 a.m. (0000 GMT) and found that one of its inflatable tubes had deflated. A number of migrants were in the cold waters of the Channel, Reuters reported.

Two unconscious people were pulled from the sea. One was airlifted to the French port city of Calais, while the other could not be revived, the coastguard said in a statement.

Search operations were continuing, it added.

The Channel, which separates Britain and continental Europe, is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

More than 29,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing in small boats this year, according to Migration Watch UK, representing a fall of about one third in 2022.

In November 2021 at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank in the Channel, the highest known number of deaths in a single incident.

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ICC Chief Prosecutor Wants Israeli Objections over Netanyahu Warrant to be Rejected

Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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ICC Chief Prosecutor Wants Israeli Objections over Netanyahu Warrant to be Rejected

Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has told judges that Israeli objections to the investigation into the 13-month war in Gaza should be rejected.

Karim Khan submitted his formal response late Monday to an appeal by Israel over The Hague-based court’s jurisdiction after judges issued arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

The embattled Israeli leader, who is also facing corruption charges in his homeland, called the arrest warrant “ a black day in the history of nations ” and vowed to fight the allegations, The AP reported.

Individuals cannot contest an arrest warrant directly, but the state of Israel can object to the entire investigation. Israel argued in a December filing that it could look into allegations against its leaders on its own and that continuing to investigate Israelis was a violation of state sovereignty.

The ICC was established in 2002 as the permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.

The court’s 125 member states include Palestine, Ukraine, Canada and every country in the European Union, but dozens of countries don’t accept the court’s jurisdiction, including Israel, the United States, Russia and China.

In Khan’s combined 55-page response, he says the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, allowed it to prosecute crimes that take place in the territory of member states, regardless of where the perpetrators hail from.

The judges are expected to render a decision in the coming months.