At least 12 dead after a boat with dozens of migrants rips apart in waters off northern France

At least 12 migrants died after their boat ripped apart Tuesday during an attempted crossing of the English Channel, according to the French Interior Minister. Dozens of people were plunged into the treacherous waters of the busy channel.

“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first aid post was set up to treat victims. “It’s a big drama.”

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Tuesday that 12 died in the “terrible shipwreck,” adding that there were two others still missing and some injured. French officials have given varying numbers of deceased.

Mayor Barbarin said that at least 13 were dead, a number also given to the AP news agency by a maritime rescue official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the operation.

Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French maritime prefecture that oversees that stretch of sea, said “more than 10” people were dead but he didn’t have an exact number. The prefecture said the boat got into difficulty off Gris-Nez point.

Both Baggio and the mayor said rescuers recovered 61 people from the waters.

Sea temperatures off northern France were around 20 degrees C, or about 68 F.

At least 30 migrants have died or gone missing while trying to cross to the U.K. this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. 

At least 2,109 migrants have tried to cross the English Channel on small boats in the past seven days, according to U.K. Home Office data updated Tuesday. The data includes people found in the channel or on arrival. Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have been pushing some to try heading north.