NICE, France (AP) — At least eight people died during a failed attempt to cross the English Channel from northern France, French maritime authorities said Sunday.
The incident occurred Saturday just before midnight when authorities spotted a boat, carrying dozens, in distress near a beach in the northern town of Ambleteuse.
A French rescue ship was deployed to the area, but could not offer assistance at sea. Once the vessel reached the beach, rescue services offered medical assistance to 53 migrants, a statement from the French maritime authorities in charge of the Channel and the North Sea said.
“Despite the emergency care provided, eight people have died,” the statement said.
No people were discovered during the search at sea, it added.
Six people were taken to hospitals in Boulogne and Calais “in relative emergency,” including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia, Jacques Billant, the Pas-de-Calais prefect, told French media on Sunday. He said survivors of the accident come from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran.
The deceased were all male adults, Billant said.
Survivors of the tragedy have been taken to the sports hall in Ambleteuse, according to a statement from the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais region. Prosecutor's office in Boulogne-sur-mer has opened an investigation into the accident.
The incident Saturday occurred nearly two weeks after a boat carrying migrants ripped apart in the English Channel as they attempted to reach Britain from northern France, plunging dozens into the treacherous waterway and leaving 12 dead.
British officials were quick to express sadness over another English Channel incident.
“It’s awful,’’ Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the BBC. “It’s a further loss of life.”
The new Labour Party government has pledged to crack down on criminal gangs plying the migrant boats trade in the channel and had discussed with European partners “how we go after those gangs, in co-operation upstream.’’
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday for talks with counterpart Giorgia Meloni about her efforts to tackle the problem “and the work they have done, particularly, with Albania.’’
Starmer is interested in the policy, under which Tirana will accept asylum seekers on Italy’s behalf while their claims are processed.
Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have been pushing them north. Before Saturday’s accident, at least 43 migrants had died or gone missing while trying to cross to the U.K. this year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Other surveillance and rescue operations are underway Sunday along the entire Pas-de-Calais coast amid stormy weather conditions and agitated sea, French maritime authorities said. They warned anyone who tries to cross the Channel on flimsy and overloaded boats and in often difficult weather conditions of “significant risks.”
On Saturday, French coast guard and navy vessels rescued 200 people from the treacherous waters in the Pas-de-Calais area, according to a report sent by French maritime authorities in charge of the Channel and the North Sea.
The French coast guard and other naval services have rescued people from four different boats, one carrying 61 and the other 55 people. The other two boats carried 48 and 36 people each, authorities said.
They said they observed 18 attempts of boat departures from France to Britain on Saturday.
In July, four migrants died while attempting the crossing on an inflatable boat that capsized and punctured. Five others, including a child, died in another attempt in April. Five dead were recovered from the sea or found washed up along a beach after a migrant boat ran into difficulties in the dark and winter cold of January.
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Associated Press journalist Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
Barbara Surk, The Associated Press