Children among 12 dead after boat carrying migrants capsizes

A large pistillate and respective children are among 12 radical who person died aft a vessel carrying dozens of migrants capsized successful the English Channel.

The mostly pistillate dormant included respective children, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said, adding that 2 much radical were missing.

The French seashore defender said much than 50 radical had been rescued disconnected the Gris-Nez cape, adjacent the municipality of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Two were said to beryllium successful captious condition.

Mr Darmanin said that the vessel was overloaded, and less than 8 radical had beingness jackets on.

The catastrophe is the deadliest nonaccomplishment of beingness successful the Channel this year.

The politician of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Frédéric Cuvillier, told the BBC that a large pistillate had died.

One root said a Syrian smuggler whitethorn person been involved.

The city's prosecutor, Guirec Le Bras, said that those killed were "primarily of Eritrean origin," but that officials "do not person consolidated details that would let america to specify the nonstop nationalities".

Before Tuesday's incident, 30 radical had already died crossing the Channel successful 2024 - the highest fig for immoderate twelvemonth since 2021, erstwhile 45 deaths were recorded, according to the UN's International Organisation for Migration.

Mr Darmanin said French authorities are preventing 60% of tiny vessel departures. But radical smugglers are cramming up to 70 radical connected the aforesaid vessels which utilized to transportation 30 to 40 radical - starring to deadlier shipwrecks.

He urged the UK and EU to hold a "treaty connected migration" to curb tiny vessel crossings.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the incidental arsenic "horrifying and profoundly tragic".

"The gangs down this appalling and callous commercialized successful quality lives person been cramming much and much radical onto progressively unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them retired into the Channel adjacent successful precise mediocre weather," she said.

The effort to "dismantle these unsafe and transgression smuggler gangs and to fortify borderline information is truthful captious and indispensable proceed apace," she added.

Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais, a foundation acceptable up to assistance migrants successful Calais, said: "These tragedies person occurred with overmuch much frequency."

"Every governmental leader, connected some sides of our Channel, needs to beryllium asked: 'How galore lives volition beryllium mislaid earlier they extremity these avoidable tragedies?'"

The French coastguard said helicopters, Navy boats and sportfishing ships were progressive successful the rescue operation.

The fig of radical making the unsafe crossing crossed the English Channel successful tiny boats has risen, with much than 135,000 radical coming to the UK by this way since 2018.

More than 21,000 radical person crossed the Channel this year.

That is much than successful the aforesaid play successful the erstwhile year, but less than successful 2022. The fig of radical who crossed successful 2022 - 45,755 - was the highest since figures were archetypal collected successful 2018.

Both Labour and the erstwhile Conservative authorities person vowed to tackle the problem.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer cancelled the erstwhile Tory government's program to nonstop immoderate asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was archetypal announced successful 2022 but ne'er enactment into effect.

Sir Keir has vowed to instrumentality tougher measures to "smash" the people-smuggling gangs responsible.

Downing Street says it has already taken enactment to people the transgression gangs by recruiting much officers to the National Crime Agency and mounting up the government’s Border Security Command.

But critics accidental the authorities should beryllium doing much to connection harmless routes for asylum seekers.

Amnesty International UK said connected Tuesday: "No magnitude of 'smash the gangs' policing and Government rhetoric is going to halt these disasters from unfolding clip and again if the needs of radical exploited by those gangs stay unaddressed."