At least 12 dead in latest boat tragedy involving migrants in the English Channel

At least twelve people were killed on Tuesday when a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized in the English Channel while attempting to reach Britain from northern France.

Most of the victims are believed to be women, some under 18, and many of the passengers did not have life jackets, officials said. One of them described it as the deadliest migrant accident in the canal this year.

“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat is torn open,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first aid station has been set up to treat the victims. “If people cannot swim in the turbulent water, collapse can happen very quickly.”

Europe's increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants are driving them north. Before Tuesday's accident, at least 30 migrants had died or gone missing trying to reach Britain this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Rescue workers recovered a total of 65 people from the English Channel on Tuesday, according to Lieutenant Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French rescue agency that oversees the stretch of sea where the boat was torn apart. The search lasted more than four hours. Doctors confirmed that 12 people had died, he said.

Another twelve people were hospitalized, two of them in very serious condition, authorities said.

Adam Beernaert, director of the Civil Protection Agency, whose staff care for the rescued migrants once they reach land, said the people his team cared for on Tuesday were traumatized.

“You have to say they shouldn't cross,” Beernaert told AP. “The sea is not easy. The weather conditions are constantly changing.”

Baggio described it as the worst boat tragedy in the Channel this year. In July, four migrants died attempting to make the crossing on a rubber dinghy that capsized and developed a hole. Five more, including a child, died in another attempt in April. And five bodies were recovered from the sea or washed up on a beach after a migrant boat got into trouble in the darkness and winter cold of January.

Many of the people on board the ship that broke apart in the English Channel on Tuesday did not have life jackets, Baggio said. He said the boat was an inflatable dinghy. Three helicopters, an airplane, two fishing boats and more than six other vessels were involved in the rescue operation.

In another tragedy at sea affecting migrants seeking a better life in Europe on Tuesday, a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, leaving one person dead and 22 missing, Libyan authorities said.

The rescue organisation leading the rescue operation in the English Channel said the boat got into distress off the Gris-Nez headland between Boulogne-sur-Mer and the port of Calais further north. The water temperature off the coast of northern France is around 20 degrees Celsius.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin travelled to Boulogne-sur-Mer to meet with those involved in dealing with what he called the “terrible shipwreck”.

“Find solutions”

He said the boat was fragile and small – less than seven metres long – and that smugglers were increasingly putting more people on board such vessels. Most of the people on the boat were believed to be from Eritrea and most of the victims were women, he said.

Last week, the heads of state and government of France and the United Kingdom agreed to step up cooperation on illegal migration across the Channel.

“It is essential – and this is a very important point – that we restore the special relationship with our British friends,” Darmanin said on Tuesday. He later told AP that in order to successfully combat the smuggling networks, immigration laws between Britain and France must be harmonized.

“These problems have been going on for 30 years now and it is imperative that we find solutions,” said Barbarin, the mayor of Le Portel.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke of an “appalling and deeply tragic incident” and paid tribute to the French rescue workers “who undoubtedly saved many lives but unfortunately were not able to save all of them”.

“The gangs behind this horrific and ruthless human trafficking are cramming more and more people onto increasingly unseaworthy dinghies and sending them out into the canal even in bad weather,” she said.

“They only care about the profits they make. That is why – in addition to mourning the terrible loss of life – we must make it so important and rapid to work on dismantling these dangerous and criminal smuggling gangs and strengthening border security.”

At least 2,109 migrants have attempted to cross the English Channel in small boats in the past seven days, according to British Home Office data updated on Tuesday. The data includes people found in the Channel or on arrival.

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