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Pictures have emerged of the flimsy rubber boat that crashed off the coast of France leading to the death of eight migrants. <\/p>\n
The eight people died overnight while attempting to\u00a0cross the Channel, and an additional six migrants are in hospital, including a 10-month-old baby, authorities have said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rescue services were called to waters in the commune of Ambleteuse around 1am local time. The rubber vessel had around 50 people on board and started to sink not long after leaving the coast.<\/p>\n
On Sunday morning, the wreckage of a vessell thought to the boat was pictured on the coastline.<\/p>\n
Jacques\u00a0Billant, the Prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, said that rescue crews were alerted that a boat with 59 people onboard was in difficulty in waters off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais area.<\/p>\n
\u201cA new drama took place around one in the morning and we deplore the death of eight people,\u201d he told a news conference, adding that the other 51 onboard were now in the care of rescue and medical crews.<\/p>\n
The damaged migrants\u2019 boat thought to be the vessell that hit trouble while crossing English Channel, leading to the death of eight people (AFP via Getty Images)Six people were taken to hospital \u201cin relative emergency,\u201d including a 10-month-old baby with hypothermia, he said. <\/p>\n
The dead were men from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan, Mr Billant added.<\/p>\n
French maritime authorities said that 200 people were rescued in a 24-hour period over Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
French gendarme use a tractor to pull the damaged migrants\u2019 boat near the beach of Ambleteuse, northern France (AFP via Getty Images)Responding to the deaths, foreign secretary David Lammy said: \u201cIt\u2019s awful. It\u2019s a further loss of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the BBC\u2019s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme he had been to the National Crime Agency and seen the \u201cawful sort of rubber dinghies that people are coming across the Channel with, many of them, of course, not able to make it in these contraptions\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Government has been \u201cdiscussing how we go after those gangs, in co-operation upstream with other European partners\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday for talks with counterpart Giorgia Meloni about her efforts to tackle the problem \u201cand the work they have done, particularly, with Albania\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister has said he is interested in the rollout of the policy, under which Tirana will accept asylum seekers on Italy\u2019s behalf while their claims are processed,.<\/p>\n
Cumulative arrivals of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats (PA Graphics)Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK\u2019s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said: \u201cThis is yet another appalling and avoidable tragedy and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who\u2019ve died.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese perilous crossings are seemingly becoming more and more dangerous, suggesting smugglers are taking greater chances with people\u2019s lives as they try to evade detection efforts by the UK and French authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government\u2019s \u2018smash the gangs\u2019 slogan and its security-heavy approach is contributing to the death toll because the refusal to establish safe asylum routes means these flimsy vessels controlled by people smugglers are the only real option for desperate people fleeing persecution.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil\u00a0UK\u00a0ministers\u00a0and\u00a0their counterparts in France\u00a0start\u00a0sharing responsibility\u00a0over the need for safe routes, we should expect this weekend\u2019s tragedy to keep\u00a0repeating itself time and time again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incident comes more than a week after the deadliest attempted Channel crossing this year, when six children and a pregnant woman were among at least 12 migrants who died when their boat was \u201cripped open\u201d. <\/p>\n
More than 53 survivors were plucked from waters off Gris-Nez point, between\u00a0Calais\u00a0and Boulogne-sur-Mer, during a major air and sea rescue operation on 3 September. <\/p>\n
Migrants on an inflatable dinghy attempt to cross the English Channel to reach Britain, on the beach of the Slack dunes in Wimereux, France (Reuters)More than 30 people have died in Channel crossings this year.<\/p>\n
The Labour government has vowed to \u201csmash\u201d the people-smuggling gangs behind the crossings, in part through increased cooperation with other European nations.<\/p>\n
Home secretary Yvette Cooper moved to\u00a0establish a new Border Security Command\u00a0in her first days in office, while in August, Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron\u00a0pledged to work together more closely\u00a0to dismantle migrant smuggling routes.<\/p>\n
Some 22,440 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, with nearly 9,000 having made the crossing since the general election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailSign up to our free Morning Headlines email Pictures have emerged of the flimsy rubber boat that crashed off the coast of France leading to the death of eight migrants. The eight people died overnight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n