The French humanitarian group Utopia 56 has filed a lawsuit accusing British and French officials of “involuntary manslaughter” and “failure to help people in need” over the drowning death of 27 refugees in the English Channel in November. According to the only two survivors, refugees made distress calls to French and English rescue services after their boat capsized and started sinking in the waters off the French port city of Calais. They were ignored. At least three of the victims were children. This is an attorney for Utopia 56.

Emmanuel Daoud: “We’re saying that from the moment the rescue services, English and French, were informed between 2 and 3 a.m. that this boat was in distress, it would have been necessary, and it is a legal obligation, that they coordinate and intervene. That was not the case.”