Migrant boat ‘rips open’ in English Channel

At least 13 people have died while dozens more were rescued from the water, French authorities have said

A boat carrying migrants across the English Channel capsized and sank off Cap Gris-Nez in northern France on Tuesday, killing at least 13 people, French media reported, citing local and coast guard authorities. 

Emergency crews rescued over 50 more people from the water, with some of them in critical condition, the local maritime prefecture said.

Olivier Barbarin, the mayor of the port town of Le Portel, where survivors were brought for medical treatment, told Le Parisien that the boat capsized after its hull gave way due to the large number of people on board. Barbarin said the bottom of the boat “ripped open” under the strain.

While the incident took place in the early morning, rescue operations were still underway on Tuesday afternoon, as at least two people were still believed to be missing. A spokesperson for the French coast guard said a number of helicopters and boats, including from the navy, have been assisting in the rescue efforts. The UK coast guard has also been put on standby.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called Tuesday’s tragedy a “terrible disaster” in a post on X. Commenting on the incident, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was “horrifying and deeply tragic” and accused those who facilitate illegal Channel crossings of intentionally endangering human lives for profit.

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“The gangs behind this appalling and unscrupulous trafficking of human lives are cramming more and more people onto increasingly unseaworthy inflatable boats and sending them into the Channel even in very bad weather. They are not interested in anything except the profits they make from it,” she said in a statement.

Tuesday’s shipwreck puts this year’s death toll for migrants crossing the Channel to at least 37, making it the deadliest year since authorities started tracking the phenomenon, according to Le Parisien data. The previous record was set in 2021, when 30 migrants drowned while attempting to reach the UK in makeshift boats. 

According to British authorities, illegal crossings of the Channel reached a record high in the first half of 2024, with 21,615 migrants arriving by this means since January. Overall, nearly 136,000 asylum seekers have illegally crossed the Channel from France since the UK started tracking these arrivals in 2018. 

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Reacting to the latest incident, British Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said it shows “the urgent need for a comprehensive and multi-pronged approach to reduce dangerous Channel crossings.”