AT LEAST 12 people trying to cross into Britain from France have died after their boat sank in the English Channel.

The deaths were confirmed today by the French coastguard after a rescue operation near the coast of Cap Gris-Nez, off Wimereux, took place.

Up to 65 people were rescued and two were still missing as the Morning Star went to print.

According to the mayor of Le Portel – where the surviving refugees were being treated – the bottom of the boat “ripped open.”

The people on board the dinghy ended up in the water and several of them needed emergency medical care, the French coastguard said.

More than 30 people have now died taking the dangerous journey for a safer life so far this year, according to official data, with today’s tragedy the deadliest.

The figure for last year was 12. 

Migrant rights campaigners voiced their anger at the deaths and repeated calls for safer legal routes.

Care4Calais CEO Steve Smith said: “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.”

Mr Smith said it is time politicians are held accountable “for their choice to dehumanise people seeking sanctuary from horrors back home.”

He added: “It’s time they ended these tragedies and introduced safe routes.”

Steve Valdez-Symonds, of Amnesty International UK, said establishing such routes would avoid more loss of life, highlighting that almost 200 people have died since 2018.

“No amount of ‘smash the gangs’ policing and government rhetoric is going to stop these disasters from unfolding time and again if the needs of people exploited by those gangs remain unaddressed,” he said.

“Until UK ministers and their counterparts in France start sharing responsibility for the humans that take that perilous Channel crossing – and that includes creating safe asylum routes to the UK – government policy will continue to be a cause for more lives being lost.”

Nadine Tunasi, of Freedom from Torture, said: “No-one gets into an overcrowded and unseaworthy dinghy to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes without a desperate need to find safety.

“Too much time has been wasted on gimmicks and hateful politics, while conflict continues to push people to take dangerous routes to sanctuary.

“This government is right to focus on conflict resolution and humanitarian aid to stem the flow of desperate refugees.

“But this will take time, and in the absence of safe routes people like me will be forced to continue to risk their lives.”

Ms Tunasi called on French and British authorities to “urgently focus on saving lives and ensuring access to protection on their own territory.” 

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said that enforcement alone is not the solution, adding: “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.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called the deaths “horrifying” and “deeply tragic.”

She said “vital” efforts to dismantle “dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs” and to boost border security “must proceed apace.”

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin described the incident as a “terrible shipwreck,” adding in a post on X: “All government services are mobilised to find the missing and take care of the victims.”

A French coastguard spokesperson said the rescue operation is ongoing with a number of helicopters and boats, including from the French navy, assisting in the rescue efforts.

The International Organisation for Migration, which records Channel crossing deaths as part of its Missing Migrant Project, estimates 226 people including 35 children are missing or have died after attempting the crossing as of January this year.

According to the French coastguard, there have been at least 19 deaths in 2024 prior to Tuesday’s incident, including nine since the start of July.

Last week, France and Britain agreed to deepen co-operation on so-called illegal migration in the Channel.

At least 2,109 people have tried to cross since – the highest number of the year.