At least 12 migrants died after their boat was torn apart on Tuesday during an attempt to cross the English Channel, according to French Minister of the Interior. Dozens of people were plunged into the treacherous waters of the busy canal.
“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat was torn up,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first aid station was set up to treat victims. “It’s a big drama.”
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Tuesday that 12 died in “terrible shipwreck“, adding that there were two others still missing and some wounded. French officials have given varying numbers of dead.
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Mayor Barbarin said at least 13 were dead, a number also provided to the AP news agency by a naval rescue official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the operation.
Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French maritime prefecture that oversees that stretch of sea, said “more than 10” people died but he did not have an exact number. The prefecture said the boat ran into difficulties off the Gris-Nez point.
Both Baggio and the mayor said rescuers pulled 61 people from the water.
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Sea temperatures off northern France were around 20 degrees C, or about 68 F.
At least 30 migrants have died or gone missing trying to cross into Britain this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
At least 2,109 migrants have attempted to cross the English Channel in small boats in the past seven days, according to UK Home Office data updated on Tuesday. The data includes people found in the canal or on arrival. Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have prompted some to try heading north.