At least eight migrants have died trying to cross the English Channel from France to the United Kingdom, French authorities announced on Sunday.
French authorities have announced that at least eight migrants have died while trying to reach the United Kingdom by crossing the Channel from France.
Their boat sank off the coast of northern France, near the town of Ambleteuse, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture.
The tragedy comes two weeks after the worst shipwreck of the year. Twelve migrants died on September 4 when their small inflatable boat tore apart while trying to cross the Channel.
Cross-Channel immigration was at the heart of the UK general election in July, which the Labour Party won by a landslide, making its leader, Keir Starmer, the new prime minister.
One of the first immediate steps taken by the new British government was to abandon the previous Conservative government’s plan to send some migrants arriving by small boat to Rwanda rather than allowing them to claim asylum in the UK.
Mr Starmer described the plan as “gadget” which would have no deterrent effect. Instead, his government has chosen to spend some of the money saved by scrapping the program on building a stronger border force to combat the people smugglers behind the small boat arrivals.