At least 8 people have died trying to cross the English Channel, French authorities say

NICE, France (AP) — At least eight people have died in a failed attempt to cross the English Channel from northern France, French maritime authorities said 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 but could not provide assistance at sea. When the ship reached the beach, rescue services provided medical assistance to 53 migrants, 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 hospitals in Boulogne and Calais “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.

According to Billant, all of the deceased were male adults.

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 on Saturday almost two weeks after a boat carrying migrants broke apart in the English Channel as it tried to reach Britain from northern France, leaving dozens of people stranded in dangerous waters and 12 dead.

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 operating on migrant boats in the Channel and has discussed with European partners ‘how we can tackle these gangs, working together upstream’.

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, which would see Tirana accept asylum seekers on behalf of Italy while their applications are processed.

Europe’s increasingly tough asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have driven them north. Before Saturday’s accident, at least 43 migrants had died or gone missing trying to cross to the UK this year, the International Organization for Migration said.

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

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.

The French coast guard and other naval services rescued people from four different boats, one with 61 and the other with 55 people. The other two boats had 48 and 36 people on board, authorities said.

They said they saw 18 attempts to get boats from France to Britain on Saturday.

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.

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