At least 12 migrants dead after boat sinks while crossing Channel – The Irish News

At least twelve migrants have died after their boat sank while trying to cross the Channel.

The French coast guard confirmed the deaths after some 65 people were rescued off the coast of Cap Gris-Nez on Tuesday.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called the incident “appalling and deeply tragic” and said “vital” efforts to dismantle “dangerous and criminal smuggling gangs” and improve border security “must continue apace”.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin described it as a “terrible shipwreck,” adding in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “The provisional death toll stands at 12, two missing and several injured.

“All government services are being mobilized to find the missing and care for the victims.”

Olivier Barbarin, the mayor of Le Portel near Boulogne-sur-Mer where the victims are being treated, said the bottom of the boat “tore open”.

According to the French coastguard, all the people on board the dinghy ended up in the water. Many of them were not wearing life jackets. Several migrants needed urgent medical attention.

Ms Cooper said she was in contact with Mr Darmanin and was being kept informed of the situation. She added: “Our thoughts are with the loved ones of all those who lost their lives and all those who were seriously injured.”

The latest casualties mean that more than 30 people have died crossing the Channel this year.

As of Tuesday, the French coastguard had recorded at least 19 deaths crossing the Channel in 2024, including nine since early July. Last year, 12 migrants were reported dead or missing.

The International Organization for Migration, which records Channel crossing deaths as part of the Missing Migrant Project, estimates that 226 people, including 35 children, were missing or had died after attempting to cross the Channel in January this year.

Last month, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said in its annual crime threat assessment to Britain that the dangerous journeys posed a “persistent and significant threat” and that the number of people attempting the crossing – combined with people smuggling tactics involving migrants “wading onto boats or transferring from taxi boats” – had “increased the likelihood of fatalities”.

Graeme Biggar, the agency’s chief executive, said the deaths were a result of “more people being put on smaller, more rickety boats”. He said an asylum system that worked “quickly and effectively” could deter migrants from crossing the Channel.

Charities and campaigners reiterated their calls for urgent measures to restrict Channel crossings as they mourned the recent loss of life at sea.

Enver Solomon, director of the Refugee Council, said the number of deaths in the Channel this year was “shockingly high” and the “devastating trend demonstrates the urgent need for a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to reduce dangerous crossings”.

“Enforcement alone is not the solution,” he added, calling on the government to open more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers.

The British Red Cross said no one would risk their lives by crossing the Channel “unless they felt they had no other choice”.

Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, said: “Every political leader, on both sides of the Channel, must be asked how many lives will be lost before these avoidable tragedies come to an end.

“Their continued obsession and investment in security measures does not lead to a reduction in the number of border crossings, but simply forces people to take ever greater risks to do so.”

Amnesty International UK said: “No amount of ‘smash the gangs’ policing and government rhetoric will prevent these disasters from happening again and again if the needs of people exploited by these gangs are not addressed.”

Safe Passage International said: “Today’s tragedy must be the last. We cannot accept this government’s refusal to prioritise the opening of new safe routes.”

The incident comes as more migrants arrived in the UK after their journeys and the number of Channel crossings reached its highest seven-day total in a year so far.

Pictures show men, women and children being brought ashore by lifeboats and Border Force officers in Dover, Kent, on Tuesday.

Figures from the Ministry of the Interior show that 351 people made the journey on six boats on Monday, bringing the provisional total for 2024 to 21,403.

This is 2% higher than this time last year (20,973) and 16% lower than at the same time in 2022 (25,387), according to an analysis of government data by the PA news agency.

The latest figures also show that 2,109 migrants arrived between August 27 and September 2 – the highest number recorded for a seven-day period so far in 2024.

PA analysis shows that the highest number of arrivals in a seven-day period this year was 1,758, which occurred between August 26 and September 1.