A 10-month-old baby was rescued from the English Channel after a small both ‘tore apart on rocks’, killing eight people.
Some victims may have been crushed to death, according to former fisherman Stéphane Pinto, now Mayor of Ambleteuse, the town the boat departed from.
He described the inflatable dinghies ‘totally unsuitable, overloaded, of poor quality, under-inflated, and under-powered’.
Mr Pinto said: ‘I’ve often seen boats like this one go out to sea. These people are not sailors. With a low tide current, the current is stronger than the boat.
‘It’s possible they suffered engine failure, drifted, and hit the rocks.
‘Only the autopsy of the bodies will be able to determine whether the victims died of drowning or of being crushed, as was the case on April 23 in Wimereux’.
All eight who died are believed to be males.
Just nine of the boat’s 59 passengers were wearing life jackets, Jacques Billant, prefect of Calais, said.
Multiple survivors, including the baby, have been treated for hypothermia, after the fatal attempt to cross the Channel ran into difficulty just after setting sail around 1am.
Six of them were taken to nearby hospitals for intensive care.
Just six hours later, a group of survivors launched another attempt to cross the Channel at the same location.
At least 18 crossing attempts were made with different boats on Saturday when the sea was relatively calm.
An emergency worker said: ‘Bodies were being taken up on to a ramp at Ambleteuse, yet, by 7am, a second boat departure took place there too.
‘Boats have been setting off in the area throughout the weekend – there have been non-stop rescues.’
Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the deaths as awful during an appearance on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this morning.
He said: ‘The awful rubber dinghies that people are coming across the Channel with, many of them of course not able to make it in these contraptions.’
Jacques Billant, prefect of Pas de Calais, put the provisional death toll at eight, saying: ‘Several migrants lost their lives.
‘A zodiac craft carrying around 50 people ran aground.’
He later said: ‘It set off with 59 people on board, and immediately got into difficulty.’
No other casualties were found in the search and rescue operation.
These latest deaths now mean that at least 45 people have died in Channel crossings so far this year, higher than last year’s death toll of 12.
Less than two weeks ago, a pregnant woman and six children were among the 12 people who died when their dinghy broke up at sea, the deadliest incident this year so far.
Only eight of the 70 passengers were wearing lifejackets, France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin said.
In total 65 of them survived.
Roughly 200 people were saved by the French authorities off the coast of Calais in a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday night.
This includes one boat carrying 55 people, all of whom survived after being rescued in poor conditions at sea near Le Portel.
More than 21,000 people have crossed the English Channel on small boats so far this year, according to the Home Office.
The Foreign Secretary told the BBC the government has been discussing how to tackle smuggling gangs, which charge around £1000-a-head for a passage to Britain.
French police are searching for the people smugglers behind last night’s singking as prosecutors launch a criminal investigation.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : Real Madrid are once again the team to beat in the new-look Champions League
MORE : Town submerged after dam bursts causing catastrophic floods
MORE : My brother is one of Britain’s most wronged prisoners – he’d rather die than be in jail
Share this with