A pregnant woman and several children are among 12 people who died after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized off the French coast, in the English Channel.
Most of the dead were female, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said, adding that two more people were missing.
More than 50 people were rescued off Cape Gris-Nez, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, the French coast guard reports. Two are said to be in critical condition.
The boat was overloaded and fewer than eight people wore life jackets, according to Mr Darmanin.
The disaster is the deadliest loss of life in the Channel this year.
One source suggested a Syrian smuggler might have been involved.
Local prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said officials believed the victims had been “primarily of Eritrean origin” though they could not yet “specify the exact nationalities”.
Before Tuesday’s incident, 30 people had already died crossing the Channel in 2024 – the highest figure for any year since 2021, when 45 deaths were recorded, according to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration.
Mr Darmanin said French authorities were preventing 60% of small boat departures. But people smugglers are cramming up to 70 people on vessels which used to carry 30 to 40 people – leading to deadlier shipwrecks.
He urged the UK and EU to agree a “treaty on migration” to curb small boat crossings.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the incident as “horrifying and deeply tragic”.
“The gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives have been cramming more and more people on to increasingly unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them out into the Channel even in very poor weather,” she said.
The effort to “dismantle these dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs and to strengthen border security is so vital and must proceed apace”, she added. (BBC)