At least 13 people died and dozens more were rescued from the waters, French authorities said.
A boat carrying migrants across the English Channel capsized and sank off Cap Gris-Nez in northern France on Tuesday, killing at least 13 people, French media reported, citing local authorities and the coastguard.
Rescue teams rescued more than 50 more people from the water, some in critical condition, the local maritime prefecture said.
Olivier Barbarin, mayor of the port town of Le Portel, where the survivors were taken for treatment, told Le Parisien that the boat capsized after its hull gave way due to the large number of people on board. ” torn “ under tension.
The incident happened early in the morning, but rescue operations were still ongoing on Tuesday afternoon, with at least two people still missing. A French coastguard spokesman said a number of helicopters and boats, including from the navy, were involved in the rescue efforts. The British coastguard was also put on alert.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called Tuesday’s tragedy a “terrible catastrophe” in a message on X. Commenting on the incident, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was “horrifying and deeply tragic” and accused those who facilitate illegal Channel crossings of intentionally endangering human lives for profit.
“The gangs behind this appalling and unscrupulous trafficking of human lives are cramming more and more people onto increasingly unseaworthy inflatable boats and sending them into the Channel even in very bad weather. They are not interested in anything except the profits they make from it,” she said in a statement.
Tuesday’s shipwreck brings the death toll among migrants crossing the Channel this year to at least 37, making it the deadliest year since authorities began monitoring the phenomenon, according to data from Le Parisien. The previous record was set in 2021, when 30 migrants drowned trying to reach the United Kingdom in makeshift boats.
According to British authorities, illegal Channel crossings reached a record high in the first half of 2024, with 21,615 migrants arriving by this means since January. In total, nearly 136,000 asylum seekers have crossed the Channel illegally from France since the UK began recording such arrivals in 2018.
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Reacting to the latest incident, British Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said it shows “the urgent need for a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to reduce dangerous Channel crossings.”
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