Eight migrants have died while trying to cross the English Channel overnight.
Fifty-three migrants were on board a boat that got into difficulty off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France, the French maritime prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea said.
A rescue operation was launched, but eight people were confirmed dead, the prefecture said in a statement.
It comes less than two weeks after 12 migrants died when their boat sank trying to cross the Channel.
Rescue ship tries to save minds as well as bodies on the Mediterranean
Eight migrants die trying to cross English Channel overnight
‘You don’t get it. You’re not gonna be saved’: Desperate cries of migrants in small boats still not being heard
‘We sleep with our eyes open’: Homeless asylum seekers in Dublin fear attack and the encroaching cold
A pregnant woman and six children were among those killed in the incident on September 3rd, with up to 65 people rescued off the coast of Cap Gris-Nez.
More than 30 people have died in Channel crossings so far this year.
Before this month, the French coastguard had recorded at least 19 Channel crossing deaths in 2024, including nine since the start of July. Last year, 12 migrants are thought to have died or were recorded as missing.
Responding to reports of the deaths, UK foreign secretary David Lammy said: “It’s awful. It’s a further loss of life.”
The government has been “discussing how we go after those gangs, in co-operation upstream with other European partners”, he added.
British prime minister Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday for talks with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni about her efforts to tackle the problem “and the work they have done, particularly, with Albania”.
On Saturday, French maritime authorities said more than 200 people were rescued in the Channel in a 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday.
Some 22,440 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, with nearly 9,000 having made the crossing since the general election. – PA