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

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 spotted a boat with dozens of passengers on board in distress near a beach in the northern town of Ambleteuse.

A French rescue ship was dispatched to the area and emergency services provided medical assistance to 53 migrants on the beach, said a statement from the French maritime authorities responsible for the English Channel and the 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 taken to hospital “in a relatively emergency” manner, 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 accident came from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran. 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 leaving 13 dead, officials said.

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 operating in the Channel trade and has discussed with European partners “how we can go after these gangs in cooperation with the other players”. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday to talk to his counterpart Giorgia Meloni about their efforts to combat the problem “and the work they have done, particularly with Albania”. Starmer is keen on the policy under which Tirana takes in asylum seekers on Italy's behalf while their applications are processed.

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.

They said they observed 18 attempted boat departures from France to Britain on Saturday. Before Saturday's accident, at least 43 migrants had died or disappeared trying to reach Britain this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.

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.