Pregnant woman under 12 drowned after overcrowded migrant boat capsizes – The Irish News

A pregnant woman and six children were among 12 people who died when 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.

According to the local Public Prosecutor’s Office, ten women and two men were killed in the incident, the BBC reports.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that dozens of people were crammed into a boat less than seven meters long.

“I came to Boulogne-sur-Mer to meet and thank the emergency services, the police and the sailors who saved 51 people from drowning by intervening very quickly and very courageously,” he said.

Mr Darmanin described it as a “terrible shipwreck”, adding: “The preliminary 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.”

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”.

According to Mr Darmanin, most of the people on the boat were believed to be from Eritrea and most of the victims were women.

Speaking to reporters in Boulogne-sur-Mer, where victims are being treated, he said up to 75 people could be placed in boats before attempting the crossing.

“These boats are sinking very, very quickly, and that is why many people die on these journeys,” he said, according to a translation by BBC News.

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

According to the French coastguard, all the people on board the boat 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.

Before 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 thought to have died or gone 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.

Ministers are concerned about people smugglers who are increasingly cramming migrants onto increasingly poor boats in order to attempt the crossing.

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”.

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.

Anna Kettley, deputy director of the UK committee for UNICEF, said: “We are deeply saddened to hear that children have also lost their lives in the Channel today.

“Every child, regardless of where they come from, deserves safety, protection and a chance for a better future.

“We urge the UK government to put child protection at the heart of their policies and ensure there are safe and legal routes into the UK.”

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.