PARIS — The mayor of a French coastal town being used in a rescue operation says 13 migrants are dead after their boat was torn apart Tuesday while trying to cross the English Channel.
Dozens of people 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.”
A maritime rescue official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the operation, confirmed that at least 13 migrants were dead.
Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French maritime prefecture that oversees this 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.
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 tried 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 pushed them north.
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