A pregnant woman was among the 12 who died after the boat carrying the migrants capsized

A pregnant woman is among 12 people who died after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized in the English Channel, the local mayor told the BBC.

Many of the dead women included several children, said Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, adding that two other people were missing.

The French coast guard said more than 50 people had been rescued from the Gris-Nez cape, near the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Two are said to be in critical condition.

Mr Darmanin said the boat was overcrowded, and less than eight people were wearing life jackets.

This disaster has killed the most people in this channel this year.

The mayor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Frédéric Cuvillier, told the BBC that a pregnant woman had died.

The city’s prosecutor, Guirec Le Bras, said those killed were “mainly of Eritrean origin,” but said officials “do not have the combined information that would allow us to specify exactly which nationalities”.

Before Tuesday’s incident, 30 people had already died crossing the Channel in 2024 – the highest number of any year since 2021, when 45 deaths were recorded, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.

Mr Darmanin said French authorities block 60% of small boat departures. But people smugglers are cramming up to 70 people into the same ships carrying 30 to 40 people – leading to serious shipwrecks.

He called on the UK and the EU to agree a “migration deal” to stop small boat crossings.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the incident as “appalling and very sad”.

“The gangs that create this horrific and callous trade in human life have been forcing more and more people into increasingly uncomfortable ships, and sending them to the station even in bad weather,” he said.

The effort to “dismantle these dangerous smuggling gangs and strengthen border security is very important and must continue urgently,” he added.

Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais, a charity set up to help migrants in Calais, said: “These tragedies have happened too often.”

“Every political leader, on both sides of the Channel, needs to be asked: ‘How many lives will be lost before these preventable tragedies end?’

The French coast guard said helicopters, Navy boats and fishing vessels were involved in the rescue operation.

The number of people making the dangerous crossing of the English Channel in small boats has increased, with more than 135,000 people coming to the UK via this route since 2018.

More than 21,000 people crossed the channel this year.

That’s more than the same period last year, but less than 2022. The number of people falling in 2022 – 45,755 – was the highest since figures were first collected in 2018.

Both Labor and the previous Conservative government have vowed to fix the problem.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer canceled the previous Tory government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was first announced in 2022 but never came into effect.

Sir Keir has vowed to take tough action to “crush” people-trafficking gangs.

Downing Street says it has already taken action to tackle gangs by recruiting more officers to the National Crime Agency and establishing the government’s Border Security Command.

But critics say the government should do more to provide safe routes for asylum seekers.

Amnesty International UK said on Tuesday: “No amount of ‘bashing the police’ and Government rhetoric will prevent these tragedies from happening again and again if the needs of the people exploited by these gangs continue to be ignored.”