Migrant English Channel tragedy: Pregnant woman and six children among 12 dead after dinghy carrying 65 sinks

A pregnant woman and six children are among 12 migrants who perished after an overcrowded boat sank while trying to cross the Channel to Britain on Tuesday.

The small dinghy crammed with up to 65 people ripped open off the coast of northern France, dumping all those on board into the treacherous waters.

Most of the victims of the tragedy – the deadliest in the Channel this year – were believed to be women or girls “primarily of Eritrean origin”.

The majority of the passengers packed into the flimsy boat were not wearing life jackets, said French interior minister Gerald Darmanin on Tuesday night.

The disaster will pile pressure on the Labour Government to take urgent action to stop the illegal crossings.

The death toll could rise further because two of those rescued were in a critical condition. Ten others were also taken to hospital while two more were still missing last night.

It is the latest in a series of attempted Channel crossings to have ended in disaster this year as people-smuggling gangs have begun cramming more migrants into each vessel.

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly called on the Government to bring back the Tories’ Rwanda deportation scheme, which was aimed at convincing migrants they would not be allowed to remain in the UK.

He said yesterday: “This is tragic and it cannot continue. It is not enough to talk about ‘smashing the gangs’ when the real-life consequences are so serious. Labour must re-establish the deterrent to stop vulnerable people being exploited and secure our border.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “What has happened off the coast at Le Portel is a horrifying and deeply tragic incident.”

“The gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives have been cramming more and more people on to increasingly unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them out into the Channel even in very poor weather.

“They do not care about anything but the profits they make, and that is why – as well as mourning the awful loss of life – the work to dismantle these dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs and to strengthen border security is so vital and must proceed apace.”

Her French counterpart Mr Darmanin, who arrived at the scene last night, described the incident as a “terrible shipwreck”.

“Unfortunately, 12 have been declared dead, including around ten women, some of whom are minors,” he said.

A major operation involving helicopters and boats, including those from the French Navy, was launched from the coastal town Le Portel, near Boulogne Sur-Mer. A medical post was also set up in the town.

All of those on board the dinghy, said to be less than 23ft long, ended up in the water with several suffering cardiac arrests.

“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open. It’s a big drama,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel.

Mr Barbarin said the boat had set off from the coast at Ambleteuse, around nine miles further north, at around 7am on Tuesday.

“The hull gave way because of the large number of people. There were very few ships around,” he said.

A state-chartered vessel, the Minck, had seen the boat in difficulty and went to its rescue said Lieutenant Etienne Baggio, a French coastal official.

He added that search operations, which meant the beach was closed to allow helicopters to land, were still underway last night.

The terrified migrants on board the dingy were also said to have tried to raise the alarm by putting out mayday calls using their mobile phones.

It is one of the deadliest incidents since 27 died after a dinghy sank while heading for the UK in November 2021.

According to the French coastguard, there have been at least 19 deaths in the Channel in 2024 before Tuesday.

But the International Organisation for Migration estimates 226 people including 35 children are either missing or have died since January.

In total at least 21,000 people are thought to have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year, more than at the same time last year.

Crossings are thought to have become more dangerous because the boats are more overcrowded as the authorities cut off supplies of dinghies made in Turkey and outboard motors from China.

The number of passengers per dinghy has tripled in recent years with 526 arriving in just eight boats last week – more than 60 in each one.

Border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle admitted yesterday that there was a “worrying trend that boats are being filled with many more people”.

“They’re always dangerous, this is a very, very busy shipping lane, but the danger and the risk seems to be rising.”

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “smash the gangs” behind the trade, with hundreds of investigators and intelligence officers in a new Border Security Command tracking down people-smugglers across Europe.

But the Prime Minister has so far failed to find anyone to lead the unit, with former general Stuart Skeates stepping down from the Tory government’s Illegal Migration Operations Command in July.

Last year he said he would seek a returns agreement with the European Union but it would be politically controversial as it would mean Britain accepting a quota of migrants from the continent as well as sending back some failed asylum-seekers.

At the Blenheim summit in July, he told European leaders they must “combine our resources, share intelligence, share tactics, shut down the smuggling routes, and smash the gangs,” but did not raise a returns deal.

Sir Keir also scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme on his first day in Downing Street, declaring it “dead and buried”.

But former Director General of Border Force Tony Smith said a deterrent, either in the form of a returns agreement or third-party scheme such as Rwanda, was necessary to put people off trying to cross and so break the gangs’ business model.

A deal with Albania at the end of 2022 led to a huge drop in the number of illegal arrivals from that country.

Mr Smith told the Mail: “Unless it is demonstrated that they won’t be allowed to stay, people will think they might as well take the risk.”

He said that “smashing the gangs” will never be enough on its own because people-smuggling is so lucrative, new criminals will always want to take the place of those who are arrested.

Additional reporting by Peter Allen in Paris