At least eight people were killed in a failed attempt to cross the border. English Channel from northern France, French maritime authorities reported on Sunday.
The incident happened just before midnight on Saturday, when authorities spotted a boat with dozens of people on board in distress off a beach in the northern town of Ambleteuse.
A French rescue ship was sent to the area and rescue services provided medical assistance to 53 migrants on the beach, according to a statement from the French maritime authorities responsible for the Channel and the North Sea.
“Despite the emergency care provided, eight people died,” the statement said.
No people were found during the search at sea, it was said.
Six people were taken to hospital “in relative distress,” 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 crash came from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran.
Benoit Tessier / REUTERS
Survivors of the tragedy have been transferred 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.
The incident occurred Saturday nearly two weeks after a boat with migrants torn apart in the English Channel as they tried to reach Britain from northern France, sending dozens of people into the dangerous waterway and killing 13, officials said.
British officials expressed their sadness over a new incident in the Channel.
“It’s terrible,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the BBC. “It’s a further loss of life.”
The new Labour Party government has pledged to crack down on criminal gangs involved in the canal trade and has discussed with European partners ‘how we tackle these gangs in partnership with other parties’.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday to talk to her counterpart Giorgia Meloni about her efforts to tackle the problem, “and the work they have done, particularly with Albania.”
Starmer is interested in the policy whereby Tirana accepts asylum seekers on behalf of Italy while their applications are being processed.
French coastguard and navy ships rescued 200 people from dangerous waters in the Pas-de-Calais region on Saturday, according to a report by the French maritime authorities responsible for the Channel and the North Sea.
They said they saw 18 attempts to get boats from France to Britain on Saturday.
Before Saturday’s accident, at least 43 migrants had died or gone missing this year while attempting to cross to the UK, according to the International Organization for Migration.
In July, four migrants died while attempting to cross on an inflatable boat that capsized and sprang a leak. Five others, including a child, died in another attempt in April. Five dead were pulled from the sea or found washed up on a beach after a migrant boat ran into difficulties in the darkness and cold of January.
