Eight migrants were feared to have died attempting to cross the Channel on Sunday after their boat ran aground on the north French coast.
The migrants were declared dead after the dinghy carrying around 50 people ran aground near a boat ramp off the coast near Ambleteuse at about 1.15am.
The tragedy comes less than two weeks after the deaths of at least 12 people, including a pregnant woman and six children, when their flimsy dinghy broke up in the sea.
The latest deaths mean at least 45 people have died in Channel crossings so far this year, compared with 12 for the whole of 2023. The worst previous incident was in November 2021 when 27 people died after their inflatable dinghy capsized.
It comes ahead of a visit to Italy on Sunday and Monday by Sir Keir Starmer to learn how prime minister Giorgia Meloni has more than halved illegal crossings of the Mediterranean.
Nearly 22,500 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, 4 per cent down on the 23,371 at the same time last year, and nearly 25 per cent down on the 29,783 in the record year of 2022.
200 rescued
French authorities rescued 200 people off the coast of Calais over a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday night. The French authorities said they monitored 18 attempts to launch boats across the Channel on Saturday.
Sixty-one migrants were picked up off the coast of La Becque d’Hardelot, 48 people were recovered near a lighthouse and at the end of the day 36 people were rescued, French authorities said. All of those rescued were brought back to land.
People smugglers are cramming more people into dinghies as the supply of boats and equipment have been limited because of a crackdown by border agencies and law enforcement. The average number of migrants per boat is now around 60, triple the rate when the first dinghies started crossing in 2018.
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle, has previously warned of a “worrying trend” where the small boats are being filled with more migrants than in the past. She said the quality was also “deteriorating”, which meant “these crossings are getting more and more dangerous as time goes on”.
‘Humane pathways’ needed
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “It would be unforgivable to treat this frequency and scale of loss of life with a sense that it is inevitable. It is not. Effective and humane pathways for those seeking refuge is what will help undermine the smugglers’ business model.”
Steve Valdez-Symonds, of Amnesty International, said: “The Government’s ‘smash the gangs’ slogan and its security-heavy approach is contributing to the death toll because the refusal to establish safe asylum routes means these flimsy vessels controlled by people smugglers are the only real option for desperate people fleeing persecution.
“Until UK ministers and their counterparts in France start sharing responsibility over the need for safe routes, we should expect this weekend’s tragedy to keep repeating itself time and time again.”
Interest in Albania option
Speaking on BBC TV, David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said the further loss of life was “awful”. He said ministers were working with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Border Force to smash the people smugglers in cooperation with other European countries.
Ahead of Sir Keir’s visit to Italy, he said the UK was “interested” in discussing with Italy their scheme for processing asylum claims offshore in Albania and its success in working with Libya and Tunisia to more than halve arrivals of illegal migrants from north Africa.
A UK Government spokesman confirmed the Channel crossing incident and said French authorities were leading the response and investigation.
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