Summary of the day
At least 12 people died crossing the Channel today after an overcrowded boat capsized. Among the dead were 1o women and six children. Officials say those who died were “primarily of Eritrean origin”. Rescuers saved 51 people from the boat, including two who are in a critical condition.
A pregnant woman was among the 12 people who died after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Channel, the mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Frédéric Cuvillier, told the BBC.
Speaking from Boulogne-sur-Mer, France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said the UK only “pays a fraction” of what the French government spends on preventing migrant deaths on the Channel.
France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin a “migration treaty” between the UK and the European Union needs to be established. “We really do need to work together to stop these things happening,” he said.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, described the deaths as a horrifying and deeply tragic incident.” Cooper emphasised the need to “dismantle” the criminal smuggler gangs who are cramming “more and more people on to increasingly unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them out into the Channel even in very poor weather.”
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said “the number of deaths in the Channel this year has been shockingly high. It is a devastating trend that shows the urgent need for a comprehensive and multi-pronged approach to reduce dangerous Channel crossings.”
21,403 people have crossed the Channel this year, a slight increase in the same period as the previous year but far fewer than in 2022, when 45,755, the highest number since records began in 2018, made the journey. Approximately 83% of those who arrived in the 12 months to June were male, and 40% of them were aged between 25 and 39 years old.
Lt Etienne Baggio, a spokesperson for the French agency that oversees the stretch of sea where the boat capsized, said it was the deadliest migrant boat tragedy in the Channel this year.
In July, four people died while attempting the crossing on an inflatable boat that capsized and punctured. Five others, including a child, died in another attempt in April. And five bodies were recovered from the sea, or found washed up on a beach, after a boat ran into difficulties in the dark and winter cold of January.
The tragedy is believed to have been the second worst in number of fatalities since the small boats crisis began.
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