At least eight people have died trying to cross the English Channel, French authorities say

PARIS – At least eight people have died in a failed attempt to cross the English Channel from northern France, French maritime authorities said on Sunday.

The incident occurred shortly before midnight on Saturday when authorities discovered a boat in distress with dozens of passengers on board near a beach in the northern town of Ambleteuse.

A French rescue ship was dispatched to the area but was unable to provide assistance at sea. When the ship reached the beach, rescue services provided medical assistance to 53 migrants, said a statement from French maritime authorities, which are responsible for the English Channel and North Sea.

“Despite the emergency care provided, eight people died,” the statement said.

No people were discovered during the search at sea, it said.

Six people were admitted to hospitals in Boulogne and Calais in “relative emergency” conditions, including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia, Jacques Billant, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, told French media on Sunday. He said the survivors of the disaster came from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran.

The deceased were all adult men, said Billant.

Survivors of the tragedy were taken to the sports hall in Ambleteuse, according to a statement from the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais region. The public prosecutor's office in Boulogne-sur-Mer has opened an investigation into the accident.

Saturday's incident came nearly two weeks after a boat carrying migrants was torn apart in the English Channel while attempting to reach Britain from northern France, with dozens of them plunging into the dangerous waterway and 12 people dying.

British officials were quick to express regret over another incident in the English Channel.

“It's terrible,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the BBC. “This is another loss of life.”

The new Labour government has promised to crack down on criminal gangs trafficking migrant boats in the English Channel and has discussed with European partners “how we can work together upstream to tackle these gangs”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday to meet with his counterpart Giorgia Meloni about their efforts to resolve the problem “and the work they have done with Albania in particular”.

Starmer is interested in the arrangement under which Tirana takes in asylum seekers on behalf of Italy while their applications are being processed.

Europe's increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants are driving them north. Before Saturday's accident, at least 43 migrants had died or gone missing trying to reach Britain this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Further surveillance and rescue operations are underway on Sunday along the entire Pas-de-Calais coast in stormy weather and choppy seas, French maritime authorities said, warning of “significant risks” for anyone attempting to cross the Channel on rickety and overloaded boats and in often difficult weather conditions.

On Saturday, French coast guard and navy ships rescued 200 people from the dangerous waters of the Pas-de-Calais region, according to a report by the French maritime authority for the English Channel and the North Sea.

The French coast guard and other naval services rescued people from four different boats, one carrying 61 people and the other 55. The other two boats were carrying 48 and 36 people respectively, authorities said.

They said they observed 18 attempted boat trips from France to Britain on Saturday.

In July, four migrants died while attempting to cross the border on a rubber dinghy that capsized and developed a hole. Five more people, including a child, died in another attempt in April. 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.

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Associated Press journalist Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.