bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Eight migrants died on Sunday when their overcrowded vessel capsized while trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French authorities said, less than two weeks after the deadliest such disaster this year.
The latest tragedy means 46 migrants have lost their lives attempting to reach British shores so far this year, a regional official said, up from 12 in 2023.
The French and British governments have sought for years to stop the flow of migrants, who pay smugglers thousands of euros per head for the passage on overloaded rubber dinghies.
Regional prefect Jacques Billant said the incident happened at around 1am (23:00 GMT on Saturday) off the coast of the northern town of Ambleteuse.
“The toll was terrible, with eight people reported dead,” he told the press near the site of the accident. He said they seemed all to be men.
Six survivors were hospitalised, including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia, he added.
The boat had set off from the Slack river that flows into the sea between the towns of Wimereux and Ambleteuse.

It had 59 people on board from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran, Billant said.
“Only one out of six had a life jacket,” he said.
The dinghy “quickly got into difficulty and ran aground”, he said. “The boat was torn apart on the rocks.”
Christel Leclair, a volunteer at a local charity, said a second boat had departed at around 7:30am despite the fatal accident.
Departures “happen the whole time, winter, day, night, summer … as soon as the sea is calm,” she said.
“The boats are more and more overcrowded. They don’t have life jackets, just sometimes the inner tube of a tire,” she added.
“There are children, pregnant women and tiny babies. We’re sad and deflated.”
The Auberge des Migrants (Migrant shelter) charity on X called on the French and British states to “immediately rethink their migration policy”.
Billant said that this year French authorities had dismantled 20 people smuggling networks, arresting 77 people of whom 59 have been referred to the courts.

But Charlotte Kwantes, of the Utopia 56 charity helping migrants, said departures would only continue.
Without enough legal options for migrants wishing to reach the United Kingdom, “people are continuing and will continue to take the same risks, whatever the quantity of patrols and means deployed at the border”, she said.
Maritime authorities said on Saturday that migrants had made numerous attempts to cross the Channel in recent days, with 200 people rescued in 24 hours over Friday and Saturday alone.
The latest incident comes a few weeks after at least 12 migrants including six minors, mostly from Eritrea, died when their boat capsized off the northern French coast on September 3.
An Eritrean survivor Biniam Semay, 34, said he had lost his 18-year-old sister in that accident.
Another Eritrean who was rescued, and gave his name only as Amanuel, said “there were a lot of girls and young boys, and I saw them die”.


More than 22,000 migrants have arrived in England by crossing the Channel since the beginning of this year, according to British officials.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France’s President Emmanuel Macron pledged this summer to strengthen “cooperation” in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.
The Channel crossings often prove perilous, and in November 2021, 27 migrants died when their boat capsized in the deadliest single such disaster to date.
French authorities seek to stop migrants taking to the water but do not intervene once they are afloat except for rescue purposes, citing safety concerns.


Hong Kong, Macau passport holders hit online snag for UK travel e-permit

Shein lawyer evades questions on China cotton at UK hearing, angering lawmakers

Who is Samuel Chatto’s artist girlfriend Eleanor Ekserdjian, and are they getting engaged? She spent Christmas with the royal family in Sandringham – just like Meghan Markle did in 2017

Australian Open qualifiers: Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong closer to main draw after plucky win

Britain

8 more migrants die trying to cross Channel to UK from France

French police pull a damaged migrants’ boat from the sea after a failed attempt to cross the English Channel that led to the death of eight people on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Firefighters and Civil Protection agents in France stand next to bags containing the bodies of migrants who died after the sinking of a boat attempting to cross the Channel to England, on September 3. At least 12 migrants died that day, the French government said. Photo: AFP

A woman is helped onto the beach at Dungeness on the southeast coast of England in August 2023 after being picked up at sea with other migrants while attempting to cross the English Channel from France. Photo: AFP

Ohio woman behind pet-eating rumours spread by Donald Trump admits claims are false

A man carries an AI-generated image of former US president Donald Trump carrying cats away from Haitian immigrants, a reference to falsehoods spread about Springfield, Ohio, during a campaign rally in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday. Photo: TNS

A man walks past the Springfield City Hall after bomb threats were made against buildings in Springfield, Ohio, on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Chinese migrants flock to Mexico in search of freedom and opportunity

An arch donated by the Chinese government adorns the Degollado Plaza in Mexico City. Photo: AP

Owner Duan Fan poses in his Chinese restaurant “Nueve y media,” in the Roma Sur neighbourhood of Mexico City, July 5, 2024. Photo: AP

Migrants board a plane for deportation at an airbase in Panama City, Panama, on Friday. Panama has imposed border closures through the Darién Gap and launched a partnership with the US government to repatriate migrants, including Chinese, who often fly into Colombia to make the journey through a perilous jungle of the in the hopes of reaching the US. Photo: Bloomberg

Chinese products are seen in a supermarket in downtown Mexico City, July 24, 2024. Photo: AP

UK widens crackdown on small boat crossings to deport more than 14,000 migrants

Migrants cross the English Channel on a small boat in March. Photo: EPA-EFE

UK anti-immigrant riots ramp up risks for undocumented Vietnamese seeking better pay

Fireworks are thrown towards police during an anti-immigration demonstration in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, on Sunday. Photo: dpa

Travellers and freight container lorries arrive at the Port of Dover ferry terminal on the southeast coast of England on July 31. Hostility is on the rise over fears that Britain is being “overrun” by migrants through open borders. Photo: AFP

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (left) looks at flower tributes left at the scene of a stabbing attack on Hart Street in Southport, Britain, on July 30. Photo: EPA-EFE

A screenshot of a video on Vietnamese TikTok of undocumented migrants dragging luggage through an area of England. Photo: TikTok

Will Australia’s new multiculturalism road map help boost migrants’ ‘sense of belonging’?

Lanterns hang from above as crowds flock to Dixon Street Mall as part of Lunar New Year celebrations in Chinatown, Sydney, Australia, in January 2022. Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A traveller pushes a luggage cart outside Sydney Airport in Australia in November 2021. Photo: Bloomberg

The Lakemba Mosque in the southwestern suburb of Lakemba in Sydney, Australia. A new report has suggested various steps to recognise and preserve the cultural heritage of migrants in Australia. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

World

Europe

Africa

Middle East

Six survivors were hospitalised, including a baby. The 59 people on the vessel that capsized were from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran, officials said.


France