Eight migrants dead and baby in hospital as boat capsizes in Channel overnight

Coastline at dawn
-Credit: (Image: No credit)


Eight migrants tragically lost their lives while attempting to cross the English Channel overnight.

The French maritime prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea reported that a boat carrying 53 migrants encountered difficulties off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.

Despite launching a rescue operation, eight people were confirmed dead, according to a statement from the prefecture.

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Jacques Billant, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, informed French media on Sunday that six individuals were rushed to hospital "in relative emergency," including a 10-month-old baby suffering from hypothermia.

Billant explained that the boat "quickly" ran into trouble after setting sail, seemingly crashing into rocks.

He further revealed that all eight fatalities were adult males.

Survivors of the tragic accident hailed from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iran, he added.

A spokesperson for the UK Government confirmed that French authorities are spearheading the investigation.

"We can confirm there has been an incident in the Channel involving a small boat in French waters," the spokesperson stated.

"French authorities are leading the response and investigation. We will not be commenting further at this stage."

The British Red Cross described the deaths as "tragic", urging for more safe crossing routes for migrants.

"Nobody risks their life travelling across the Channel in a small boat unless they feel they have no other choice," said Alex Fraser, the director for refugee support.

"More safe routes are urgently needed to help prevent people from taking dangerous journeys to reach the UK."

It comes less than two weeks after 12 migrants perished when their vessel capsized during an attempt to traverse the Channel.

A pregnant woman and six children were among the casualties of the tragedy on September 3, with up to 65 individuals rescued off Cap Gris-Nez's coast.

Over 30 individuals have lost their lives in Channel crossings this year alone.

Prior to this month, at least 19 fatalities had been documented by the French coastguard for 2024, including nine since July began. In the previous year, 12 migrants were either confirmed dead or reported missing.

Reacting to the grim news of the fatalities, Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressed: "It's awful. It's a further loss of life."

On the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, he recounted his visit to the National Crime Agency where he witnessed the "awful sort of rubber dinghies that people are coming across the Channel with, many of them, of course, not able to make it in these contraptions".

He also mentioned that the Government is "discussing how we go after those gangs, in co-operation upstream with other European partners".

Sir Keir Starmer is scheduled to be in Italy on Monday for discussions with his counterpart Giorgia Meloni regarding her initiatives to address the issue "and the work they have done, particularly, with Albania".

The Prime Minister has expressed interest in the implementation of a policy where Tirana would take on asylum seekers on behalf of Italy while their claims are being processed.

French maritime authorities reported that over 200 individuals were rescued from the Channel within a 24-hour period spanning from Friday to Saturday.

Provisional figures from the Home Office reveal that 801 migrants made the journey across the Channel to the UK on Saturday, marking the second highest daily total for the year.

These migrants were packed into 14 boats, averaging about 57 people per vessel.

The only day this year with a higher number of crossings was June 18, when 882 individuals completed the journey.

With Saturday's arrivals, the total number of crossings for 2024 has reached 23,241, with 9,667 occurring since Sir Keir assumed the role of Prime Minister.

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