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 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 several ships are still continuing, the maritime authorities said in a statement.

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.

Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and President Emmanuel Macron of France pledged to increase cooperation in the English Channel and to dismantle human smuggling networks, which the authorities on both sides of the waterway have blamed for the repeated deaths.

“The leaders agreed to do more together to dismantle smuggling routes further upstream and increase intelligence sharing,” Mr. Starmer’s office said in a statement after the two leaders met in Paris.

The Channel is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. Its waters are especially icy in the winter, winds can be treacherous, and migrants trying to cross often crowd onto flimsy inflatable boats.

“It’s a particularly dangerous sector even when the sea looks calm,” the maritime authorities said in their statement on Tuesday.

Most of those who try to cross the Channel leave from the Pas-de-Calais. Many are from Afghanistan, Albania, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Sudan and Syria, according to the French authorities, and they cluster in makeshift camps on the coast of northern France before trying to cross.

Many prefer risking the trip over staying in France because they see Britain as an attractive destination with a strong job market where English is spoken, or because they already have family there or people they know from their home country.