Six people killed when a boat sank while crossing the English Channel to reach the UK have been identified by French authorities as Afghans.
One of the victims died after being airlifted to hospital in Calais, and five others were declared dead after they were picked up by a French lifeboat.
Survivors were rescued by French and British vessels and taken ashore on both sides of the Channel, in a rescue effort involving helicopters, warships and search-and-rescue boats.
About 60 people were rescued after the alarm was raised early on Saturday, according to a statement by a French police command responsible for the Channel.
Boulogne city deputy public prosecutor Philippe Sabatier said all six fatalities were Afghan men, all believed to be in their 30s.
The other passengers on board the doomed ship were "almost all Afghans with some Sudanese, mostly adults with some minors", he said.
Five of the dead were picked up by the French search-and-rescue boat Notre Dame du Risban but they did not survive.
“Unfortunately, the person transferred to hospital in Calais and the five people received by the Notre Dame du Risban have been declared dead,” a French police statement said.
It is the latest deadly incident that shows the dangers asylum seekers face when they try to cross the Channel in small boats.
More than 100,000 people have made the crossing since 2018 but there have been several fatal sinkings in the 35-kilometre strait. In the worst case, 27 people drowned after setting sail in a dinghy in November 2021.
Human traffickers typically overload rickety dinghies, leaving them barely afloat and at risk of being lashed by the waves as they try to reach British shores.
Another 343 people crossed the Channel on Friday, according to the latest figures. The total number this year is more than 16,000 with an average of about 57 per boat.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said her “thoughts and prayers” were with “those affected by the tragic loss of life”.
She said she had spoken to UK Border Force staff who supported the French rescue effort. The UK Home Office said coast guards were “working on a co-ordinated response” to Saturday's wreck.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, urged the Government to focus on creating an “orderly and humane asylum system”.
He accused the Government of “focusing on passing expensive and unworkable legislation and shutting down existing safe ways to get to the UK”.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wrote on social media that her “thoughts go out to the victims” as she praised the efforts of the rescue teams.
Patrol ship Cormoran raised the alarm in the early hours of Saturday that the boat was sinking off the French coast.
French warships including the patrol vessel Pluvier were deployed to provide assistance. The British vessels included one from lifeboat charity RNLI, which said a volunteer crew set off from Dover just before 4am.
The Cormoran picked up 33 people, including the person airlifted to Calais who later died. About a dozen people were taken ashore by British authorities but the exact number was unclear.
An investigation has also been opened by the Boulogne prosecutor’s office.
Britain's attempts to shut down the Channel route have been plagued by problems and a barge housing asylum seekers was evacuated on Friday after a legionella scare.
The UK government said blocking asylum claims and attempting to deport people to Rwanda will shut down deadly smuggling networks. Critics said its policies are cruel and that there is a lack of safe options for refugees.
Labour's shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said the latest incident was an “appalling, deeply shocking tragedy”.
“We must stop these crossings and defeat the criminal people smugglers,” he said. “There can be no more headline-chasing gimmicks or madcap schemes that just make everything worse.”
French authorities have stepped up patrols after Britain agreed to pay hundreds of millions of euros to stop migrants embarking on boats.
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6 UNDERGROUND
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MATCH INFO
Karnataka Tuskers 110-5 (10 ovs)
Tharanga 48, Shafiq 34, Rampaul 2-16
Delhi Bulls 91-8 (10 ovs)
Mathews 31, Rimmington 3-28
Karnataka Tuskers win by 19 runs
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MATCH INFO
Pakistan 106-8 (20 ovs)
Iftikhar 45, Richardson 3-18
Australia 109-0 (11.5 ovs)
Warner 48 no, Finch 52 no
Australia win series 2-0
