Thirteen Migrants Drown in the Worst Tragedy of the Year in the English Channel

This is the worst humanitarian tragedy of the year in the English Channel. At least thirteen migrants drowned on Tuesday after a dinghy capsized near the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in northern France. In this border area between France and the United Kingdom, clandestine crossings have increased alarmingly, and migrants and refugees are taking greater risks due to the heightened presence of police and border agents. With this tragic accident, the death toll has risen to 37 since January 1st, making 2024 the deadliest year in the channel.

The vessel, carrying around 65 people, capsized in the morning after setting off a few hours earlier. A French state vessel found it adrift and rescued its occupants. Among the dead were three minors. Several were also injured or missing. Most of them hailed from Eritrea, according to the prefecture – equivalent to a regional government office – of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. "All state services are mobilized to find those missing," stated acting Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.

The French official blamed human traffickers for the tragedy. "They crammed seventy people into a small boat less than seven meters long," Darmanin told media from Boulogne-sur-Mer. "The mafias responsible for this horrendous and unscrupulous trafficking of human lives are putting more people into increasingly unseaworthy inflatable boats and sending them across the Channel, even in very bad weather," lamented his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper.

Tuesday's capsizing recalls another incident at the end of April when three men, a woman, and a girl under seven drowned after the engine of their plastic boat failed. Up to 112 people were crammed aboard. The high risk of these crossings does not deter many migrants who dream of reaching British territory. Up to 21,615 have crossed the channel clandestinely since the beginning of the year, according to UK authorities.

The British government, especially under Conservative Rishi Sunak, pressured the French executive in recent years to increase police presence in the area. The London Parliament definitively adopted a controversial law in April to deport those who arrived illegally in the UK to Rwanda. It was primarily a deterrent measure, but its effects were not reflected in May or June. Weeks after his electoral victory, new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in July that they would stop enforcing it.