A pregnant woman and six children were among the 12 people who tragically lost their lives after a boat capsized in the English Channel.

Frédéric Cuvillier, mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer where casualties are being treated, told the BBC this evening that a pregnant woman was among those who perished after the overcrowded inflatable vessel ‘ripped open’ off the coast of France.

Guirec Le Bras, regional prosecutor, said during a news conference that ten women were among the 12 reported to have died – which also included six minors.

He added that those killed were ‘primarily of Eritrean origin’, but said officials have not yet ‘consolidated’ enough information to provide further details.

Many of the passengers didn’t have life preservers, officials said, with one calling it the deadliest migrant accident in the channel this year. 

A major rescue operation has been underway since the vessel got into difficulty off the coast of northern France, near Calais, this morning. 

Some 70 people on board ended up in the water when the bottom of the boat, measuring just seven metres long, ‘ripped open’.

Survivors are being treated in Boulogne-sur-Mer, with several still in critical condition. A medical post was set up in the area. 

Olivier Barbarin, chief of Le Portel, near Boulogne-sur-Mer where casualties are being treated, said: ‘Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open.’

‘If people don’t know how to swim in the agitated waters … it can go very quickly.’ 

Mr Barbarin said the boat had set off from the coast at Ambleteuse, around nine miles further north, at around 7am yesterday.

‘The hull gave way because of the large number of people. There were very few ships around,’ he said.

A state-chartered vessel, the Minck, had seen the boat in difficulty and went to its rescue said Lieutenant Etienne Baggio, a French coastal official.

He added that search operations, which meant the beach was closed to allow helicopters to land, were still under way last night.

The terrified migrants on board the dingy were also said to have tried to raise the alarm by putting out mayday calls using their mobile phones.

It is one of the deadliest incidents since 27 died after a dinghy sank while heading for the UK in November 2021.

According to the French coastguard, there have been at least 19 deaths in the Channel in 2024 before yesterday. But the International Organisation for Migration estimates 226 people including 35 children are either missing or have died since January. 

Rescue workers in helicopters and boats were deployed close to Le Portel, a town of around 9,000, shortly after 11.30am this morning, assisted by local fishermen. 

By early evening, Darmanin reported 51 people had been ‘saved’.

The French coast guard initially reported 10 people were in critical condition following the sinking. French officials revised this down to two by early evening. 

TV channel France 3 reported that Mr Barbarin said ‘around 10 people in cardio-respiratory arrest’.

Some of those rescued were taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer while others were lifted by helicopter to Le Portel. 

Victims were also being taken back to Bassin Loubet in Boulogne-sur-Mer on board a semi-rigid boat, said the spokesman. 

Emergency services have rushed to the scene to respond to the incident. 

France’s outgoing interior minister Gérald Darmanin arrived at the scene at around 4:45pm and is due to speak with elected officials and emergency services before addressing media on the incident. 

In a post on X, he said: ‘Terrible shipwreck in Pas-de-Calais, off Wimereux. The provisional toll stands at 12 dead, two missing and several injured. 

He told media this evening than as many as 70 people had been crammed into a vessel measuring less than seven metres long.

‘Unfortunately, twelve people have been declared dead, including around ten women, some of whom are minors,’ he added. 

Authorities have continued to work to rescue survivors from the wreckage.

Mr Barbarin has closed the beach at the former hoverport to allow helicopters to land. 

A French emergency services spokesman said rescue services were working off the coast, around the former hoverport in Le Portel, south of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

‘The sinking of a boat overcrowded with around 70 migrants on board took place early on Tuesday,’ said the spokesman.

‘A Navy helicopter is bringing in victims who are in a critical condition. Some appear to have been suffocated. Around 10 people have been reported dead.’

The UK Coastguard said it has not been involved in the rescue operation.

A spokesperson said: ‘HM Coastguard received a report of a small boat in difficulty in the English Channel, in French waters north of Boulogne, at about 6.50am on 3 September.

‘The response was coordinated by French authorities. Assistance offered by HM Coastguard was not required.’

Frédéric Cuvillier, the mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, said: ‘A new tragedy linked to the migration situation has just taken place on our territory.’

‘A boat carrying nearly 70 people sank off our coast. The toll, unfortunately without being stabilized, is heavy with more than 10 victims and people in absolute emergency situations,’ he said in a social media post.

He also told BFM Grand Littoral that this tragedy is the most serious in the Boulogne region.

The scale of the tragedy prompted Darmanin to call for better relations with the UK to negotiate a ‘migration treaty between the UK and the European Union’.

He said: ‘The people who go now [are] people from the core of Africa who want to go to the UK and they want to join their families and they actually work in conditions that would not be accepted [in] France. 

‘And so we really do need to work together to stop these things happening.’

The disaster will pile pressure on the Labour Government to take urgent action to stop the illegal crossings. 

The deaths of at least 12 migrants in the English Channel is ‘horrifying’ and ‘deeply tragic,’ British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said. 

‘What has happened off the coast at Le Portel is a horrifying and deeply tragic incident, and our hearts go out to the loved ones of all those who have lost their lives, and all those who have been seriously injured,’ she added.

‘I am in touch with my counterpart in France, Gérald Darmanin, and am being kept updated on the situation.

‘We pay tribute to the French coastguard and emergency services who undoubtedly saved many lives, but sadly could not save everyone. We will await the results of the French investigation into how this particular incident unfolded.

‘The gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives have been cramming more and more people onto increasingly unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them out into the Channel even in very poor weather. 

‘They do not care about anything but the profits they make, and that is why – as well as mourning the awful loss of life – the work to dismantle these dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs and to strengthen border security is so vital and must proceed apace.

‘All government services are mobilised to find the missing and take care of the victims. I go to the elected officials and the emergency services.’ 

Border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle admitted yesterday that there was a ‘worrying trend that boats are being filled with many more people’.

‘They’re always dangerous, this is a very, very busy shipping lane, but the danger and the risk seems to be rising.’

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly called on the Government to bring back the Tories’ Rwanda deportation scheme, which was aimed at convincing migrants they would not be allowed to remain in the UK.

He said yesterday: ‘This is tragic and it cannot continue. It is not enough to talk about “smashing the gangs” when the real-life consequences are so serious. Labour must re-establish the deterrent to stop vulnerable people being exploited and secure our border.’

Former Director General of Border Force Tony Smith said a deterrent, either in the form of a returns agreement or third-party scheme such as Rwanda, was necessary to put people off trying to cross and so break the gangs’ business model. 

Mr Smith told the Mail: ‘Unless it is demonstrated that they won’t be allowed to stay, people will think they might as well take the risk.’

He said that ‘smashing the gangs’ will never be enough on its own because people-smuggling is so lucrative, new criminals will always want to take the place of those who are arrested.’

Steve Smith, CEO of the Care4Calais refugee charity said; ‘All of us, particularly our team in Calais, are devastated by this latest tragedy. One life lost in the Channel is too much, but this year these tragedies have occurred with much more frequency and that is a deeply worrying trend that needs to be stopped.

‘Every political leader, on both sides of our Channel, needs to be asked how many lives will be lost before they end these avoidable tragedies?

‘Their continued obsession, and investment, in security measures is not reducing crossings, it is simply pushing people to take ever increasing risks to do so.

‘Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome is political lunacy. It’s time politicians were held accountable for their choice to dehumanise people seeking sanctuary from horrors back home. It’s time they ended these tragedies and introduced safe routes.’

Reacting to the deaths in the Channel on Tuesday, Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: ‘The number of deaths in the Channel this year has been shockingly high.

‘It is a devastating trend that shows the urgent need for a comprehensive and multi-pronged approach to reduce dangerous Channel crossings.

‘Enforcement alone is not the solution. Heightened security and policing measures on the French coast have led to increasingly perilous crossings, launching from more dangerous locations and in flimsy, overcrowded vessels.

‘In addition to taking action against the criminal gangs themselves, the Government must develop a plan to improve and expand safe routes for those seeking safety.’

The last deaths reported in the Channel took place on August 11 – when two others perished making the treacherous journey.

On Tuesday, an RNLI lifeboat docked in Dover with people, thought to be migrants, on it docked in Dover after an incident in the Channel. 

Two male migrants dying when a small boat capsized in the same area on Sunday August 11th – a day when 703 migrants crossed the English Channel.

The tragedy meant nine people had died in similar circumstances over July and August alone

The figure for 2024 has now reached at least 35, and Boulogne prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the deaths.

Following the death by suffocation of a woman on board a migrant boat in July, an emergency services source said: ‘She was nowhere near the water, but succumbed to being crushed by the amount of people around her.

‘Migrants are drowning in the water, but the new phenomenon of people dying inside the boats is becoming very serious indeed.’

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to work closer together to dismantle migrant smuggling routes last week. 

The Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong, making the crossing on small boats dangerous.

Earlier on Tuesday, Home Office figures confirmed that 351 migrants had successfully made the crossing into Britain yesterday aboard six dinghies.

These arrivals take the total number of arrivals in 2024 to 21,403 people in 409 boats.