AMBLETEUSE, France: Eight migrants died on Sunday when their overcrowded vessel capsized while trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French authorities said, less than two weeks after the deadliest such disaster this year.
The latest tragedy means 46 migrants have lost their lives attempting to reach British shores so far this year, a regional official said, up from 12 in 2023.
The French and British governments have sought for years to stop the flow of migrants, who pay smugglers thousands of euros per head for the passage on overloaded rubber dinghies.
Regional prefect Jacques Billant said the incident happened at around 1:00 am (23:00 GMT on Saturday) off the coast of the northern town of Ambleteuse.
“The toll was terrible, with eight people reported dead,” he told the press near the site of the accident.
He said they seemed all to be men.
Six survivors were hospitalised, including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia, he added.
The boat had set off from the Slack river that flows into the sea between the towns of Wimereux and Ambleteuse.
It had 59 people on board from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran, Billant said.
“Only one out of six had a lifejacket,” he said.
The dinghy “quickly got into difficulty and ran aground”, he said. “The boat was torn apart on the rocks.”
Christel Leclair, a volunteer at a local charity, said a second boat had departed at around 7:30 am despite the fatal accident.