Drowned migrant woman found in Dutch waters; suspects in court

A woman from Iran drowned on the Channel between France and England and was found in Dutch waters. Her body was discovered a few dozen kilometers off the coast of IJmuiden in August, NOS reports. Two suspected human traffickers will appear in court in France on Wednesday.

As far as is known, this was the first time that the body of a drowned migrant was discovered in Dutch waters. The suspects are a Dutch-Guinean man and a man from Afghanistan. They were arrested in October and face 10 years in prison for assisting undocumented migrants and manslaughter, the broadcaster writes.

The 31-year-old woman stepped on a rubber boat arranged by human traffickers in Calais on August 9th. There were a total of 20 people on the boat, all of them from Iraq and Iran. They paid 3,500 euros per person to the traffickers, according to NOS. On the Channel, the boat got into trouble and three people ended up in the water. Two men were saved, the Iranian woman drowned.

After the migrants were rescued, the French police launched an investigation and uncovered this smuggling operation. The suspected human traffickers were surveilled for two months. In that period they bought eight rubber boats, on which 84 people left France for England.