At least eight people have died overnight while attempting to cross the English Channel from France to the United Kingdom, according to French authorities.
According to the regional prefect, Jacques Billant, the incident happened at about 1am (23:00 GMT on Saturday) off the coast of the northern town of Ambleteuse
“The toll was terrible, with eight people reported dead,” he told the press near the site of the accident.
He added that six survivors were hospitalised, including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia.
The boat had set off from the Slack River that flows into the sea between the towns of Wimereux and Ambleteuse.
Billant said 59 people from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iran were on board.
“It quickly got into difficulty and ran aground … The boat was torn apart on the rocks,” he said.
The announcement comes less than two weeks after 12 people were killed after a boat they were travelling in capsized during an attempted crossing of the Channel.
It was the deadliest such disaster this year and brought the number of migrant and refugee deaths in the Channel to 37, up from 12 in 2023.
Maritime authorities said on Saturday that numerous attempts by people to make the perilous crossing in small boats have been attempted in recent days, with 200 people rescued in 24 hours over Friday and Saturday alone.
According to British officials, more than 22,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in England by crossing the Channel since the beginning of this year.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged this summer to strengthen “cooperation” in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.
In July, four people died when their inflatable boat capsized off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France.
In April, five people, including a child, died on an overcrowded boat carrying 112 people from Wimereux, about 32km (20 miles) southwest of the French port of Calais to the UK.
The deadliest single such disaster to date was in November 2021 when 27 people died when their boat capsized.
