At Least 12 Die Trying to Cross English Channel, French Authorities Say

Europe|At Least 12 Die Trying to Cross English Channel, French Authorities Say

At least 12 people died after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of northern France on Tuesday during an attempt to cross the English Channel, the French authorities said. It was the deadliest episode in the waterway this year as the French and British governments struggle to prevent attempts at the perilous crossing.

Gérald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, said on the social media platform X that the vessel sank off the coast of Wimereux, in an area of the Pas-de-Calais region where several similar tragedies have occurred this year. Two people were still missing and several others were injured, Mr. Darmanin said.

“All government services are mobilized to find the missing and care for the victims,” he said.

The French maritime authorities said in a statement that dozens of people fell into the sea after their vessel encountered unspecified difficulties on Tuesday morning off the coast of Cap Gris-Nez, which at some points is less than 30 miles from the British coastline.

Rescue workers picked up 65 people out of the water, some of them in critical condition, and rescue operations involving helicopters and fishing and Navy ships are still continuing, the maritime authorities said in a statement. Frédéric Cuvillier, the mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, a nearby town, said in a statement that nearly 70 people had been on board the boat when it sank.

The French authorities did not identify the people who died or say where they were from, and they did not specify the causes of death.

One of the worst migrant-related accidents in the Channel happened in 2021, when 27 people died after their boat capsized, but similar tragedies have repeatedly occurred on a smaller scale. Five people died at sea in January near Wimereux as well; five people died in similar circumstances around the same area in April.