Thaindian News

Paris, Nov 2 (THAINDIAN NEWS) French authorities have announced their plans to ban people from swimming in the English Channel. The French coastguards claim that swimming in the channel has now become dangerous due to the increased vessel traffic on the channel now. More ships are now using the Dover to Calais route on the channel and that makes it very dangerous to swim on that part of the channel.

Swimming in the English Channel has been a sporting challenge for several people since the 1800s but when comedian David Williams recently completed the challenge in a charitable event, the number of people trying to complete the challenge has increased dramatically.

French authorities believe that the increased number of people trying to cross the channel means that the possibility of accidents have gone up so there is the need to the ban. Critics however maintain that the ban is not necessary because the various swimming associations that organize the swims carefully organize the event and as a result the possibility of accidents cannot be used as an excuse to ban the events. Previous ban by the French authorities was lifted after negotiations some 17 years back.