About 200 migrants set off from French shores on Wednesday, hours after a pregnant woman and six children were among 12 migrants who died after their dinghy “ripped” open while crossing the English Channel.
Local prosecutors in France said 10 females and two males died in the incident on Tuesday.
They were among more than 60 people who had been crammed on to a dinghy less than seven metres long. Calais charity worker Angele Vettorello, co-ordinator at Utopia 56, said she saw 200 people trying to cross on Wednesday who had been stopped by police.
“The crossings, it's not going to stop,” she said. “We see it every month … every death at the border, the people don't stop crossing.”
She said a lot of police were at the shore, with interventions made during the night and into the morning. Ms Vettorello added this summer there has been a “huge increase” in people dying in the Channel, and the last week was “really busy” for crossings. “We know a lot of people who were stopped to cross and were back to shore during those seven days. “We received calls from people in distress in boats in the Channel, we received for example eight calls from eight different boats on Friday.”
Around 317 migrants arrived in the UK on Tuesday after crossing the Channel, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.
'Ripped apart' Olivier Barbarin, the mayor of Le Portel near Boulogne-sur-Mer, said the bottom of the boat “ripped” apart in the incident off the coast of France on Tuesday. All on board were thrown into the water.
Many of them were not wearing life jackets and several needed medical care, according to the French coastguard, which rescued more than 50 people.
“I came to Boulogne-sur-Mer to meet and thank the emergency services, the police and the sailors who were able to save 51 people from drowning by intervening very quickly and very courageously,” French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on X.
Mr Darmanin described it as a “terrible shipwreck”, adding: “The provisional toll stands at 12 dead, two missing and several injured.
“All government services are mobilised to find the missing and take care of the victims.”
At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Keir Starmer told MPs that government “must have a renewed determination to end this”.
“Yesterday’s incident in the Channel was shocking and deeply tragic, and our thoughts are with all those who’ve lost their lives and their families,” he said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper branded the incident “horrifying and deeply tragic” as she said “vital” efforts to dismantle “dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs” and to boost border security “must proceed apace”.
Mr Darmanin said most of the people on the boat were believed to have been from Eritrea.
Speaking to reporters at Boulogne-sur-Mer, where the casualties are being treated, he said as many as 75 people can be put on boats ahead of a crossing attempt.
“These boats go down very, very quickly, this is the reason why a lot of people get killed on these journeys,” he said, according to a BBC News translation.
