BOULOGNE-SUR-MER (France), Sept 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 12 migrants died off the northern French coast on Tuesday trying to cross the Channel to England in the deadliest such disaster this year, the French government said, as a major rescue operation was underway.
Announcing the death toll on X, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin also said that two migrants were still missing.
Several were injured after their boat carrying dozens ran into trouble off Wimereux, a town some 5km from Boulogne-sur-Mer on the French coast.
“All government services are mobilised to find the missing people and treat the injured,” he said.
A source close to the investigation said the dead included three minors.
The crew on a French government-operated ship, the Minck, were the first to become aware of the emergency and to respond, naval officer Etienne Baggio said.
French navy helicopters, fishing boats and military vessels are being mobilised for the operation, which is still ongoing, he said.
It is the deadliest such disaster this year which has already seen 25 people die in migrant crossings, up from the 2023 death toll of 12.
The French and British governments have for years sought to stop the flow of migrants, who pay smugglers thousands of euros per head for the passage to England from France aboard small boats.
UK interior minister Yvette Cooper called the deaths on Tuesday “horrifying and deeply tragic”.
She criticised the “gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives”, adding they “do not care about anything but the profits they make”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron had earlier this summer pledged to strengthen “cooperation” in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.
On Monday alone, 351 migrants crossed in small boats, with 21,615 making the journey this year, according to UK government statistics.
The crossing often proves perilous, and in November 2021, 27 migrants died when their boat capsised in the deadliest single such disaster to date.
French authorities seek to stop migrants taking to the water but do not intervene once they are afloat except for rescue purposes, citing safety concerns. — NNN-AGENCIES
