At least 12 migrants die in English Channel wreck

(CN) — At least 12 migrants died on Tuesday when an overcrowded large rubber dinghy attempting to cross the English Channel sank off the coast of France, authorities said.

It was the deadliest incident this year in the English Channel, which has seen a spike in the number of migrants crossing the busy waterway to reach England. Since 2018, migrant crossings have intensified across the channel.

The vessel was carrying about 65 people when it broke apart mid-morning about 3 miles off the coast from Cap Gris-Nez, according to media reports.

In addition to the dozen deaths, two people were missing and several rescued migrants were in serious condition, French officials said. At least 10 of those who died were women, including some minors, according to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.

French authorities said most of the migrants were from Eritrea, a war-torn nation in the Horn of Africa considered a dictatorship.

Olivier Barbarin, the mayor of Le Portel, a French coastal town where rescue operations were set up, told reporters “the bottom of the boat ripped open.” The vessel was described as a large rubber dinghy and it reportedly left from Le Portel.

French authorities faced criticism for not doing more to help the vessel before it sank. French military and coast guard vessels, helicopters and two fishing boats were involved in the search and rescue operation.

Charlotte Kwantes of Utopia 56, a French humanitarian group that works with migrants, accused French police of exacerbating the situation by using harsh tactics against migrants in northern France.

“For two and a half months, there have been deaths in the channel almost every week,” she told AFP, the French news service.

Including Tuesday's wreck, 37 migrants have died this year trying to cross the channel, according to news reports. At least six migrants died in crossings during July and two migrants died in a wreck off the coast of Calais on August 11. In 2023, 12 deaths were recorded.

So far this year, 21,403 people have crossed the English Channel, a slight increase over last year, according to the BBC. The highest number of crossings took place in 2022 when 45,755 people crossed.

This disaster once again cast into relief Europe's struggles to deal with large numbers of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees who make perilous voyages across the Mediterranean Sea, the Balkan Peninsula and the English Channel in search of safety and work.

Besides the wreck in the channel, Tuesday was marked by reports of a migrant boat carrying about 30 people capsizing off the coast of Libya. In that incident, at least one person died and 22 people were missing. The Mediterranean is the deadliest route for migrants in Europe with scores of people seeking to make it from northern Africa to Italian shores.

European governments are accused of ignoring the plight of migrants and not doing nearly enough to assist them. Indeed, in recent years, Europe has taken a much harsher line on migrants and begun speeding up deportations, blocking humanitarian rescue operations and erecting more fences.

A rise of far-right political parties across Europe has been fueled by anti-migrant sentiment and anger at centrist parties accused of opening borders to immigration.

In response, speedier deportations are becoming more common.

Last Friday, Germany sent 28 Afghan asylum seekers convicted of crimes back to Afghanistan despite the return to power of the Taliban in Kabul. The deportations were a response to a Syrian asylum seeker's killing of three people on August 23 in Solingen, Germany.

The new British government under Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer is promising to increase the number of deportations of people whose asylum claims are rejected.

Increasingly, European governments say human smugglers are to blame for driving up the number of migrant crossings and putting lives at danger by cramming people onto overloaded vessels that aren't seaworthy. Across Europe, authorities are trying to crack down on human smugglers.

On Tuesday, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pointed the finger at human smugglers for the “horrifying and deeply tragic incident” in the English Channel.

“The gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives have been cramming more and more people onto increasingly unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them out into the channel even in very poor weather,” she said, as reported by British media. “They do not care about anything but the profits they make.”

But humanitarian groups said governments must do more to help asylum seekers avoid dangerous crossings.

“Nobody risks their life traveling across the channel in a small boat unless they feel they have no other choice. More safe routes are urgently needed,” said Alex Fraser, the director of refugee support at the British Red Cross, as reported by The Guardian.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau