At least 20 migrants dead after vessel sinks in English Channel

French Prime Minister Jean Castex called the incident a “tragedy” and condemned human traffickers who “exploit the distress and misery” of migrants.

The prosecutor’s office in the French seaside town of Dunkirk has opened an investigation into “aggravated manslaughter” and other potential charges, AFP reported.

France’s interior minister said he was headed to northern France, where a search-and-rescue operation involving several ships and helicopters was still underway Wednesday evening.

The office of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson office said he would chair a meeting of COBRA, the government’s crisis committee, on Wednesday afternoon in response to the tragedy.

Before Wednesday, nearly three times as many people have crossed the English Channel by sea this year compared with last year.

At the Strait of Dover, the Channel — one of the world’s busiest commercial shipping lanes — is some 21 miles wide, and can be dangerous for people in small flimsy boats when hammered by high winds.

Since 1999, more than 300 asylum seekers have died attempting to cross, according to the Institute of Race Relations, a U.K.-based think tank.

Responding to the increase in recent crossing attempts, a sporting goods company last week stopped selling kayaks in its shops in northern France.

Some asylum seekers want to reach Britain to reunite with family, aid workers say, and others because they speak English.

The influx of migrants — many of them Yemenis, Iraqis, Afghans and others seeking refuge — has turned into a point of contention in the post-Brexit tussle between Paris and London. Earlier this month, 1,185 people ventured across the English Channel in a new daily record that the British Home Office described as “unacceptable.”

Natalie Elphicke, a Conservative lawmaker for Dover, called Wednesday’s incident an “absolute tragedy” and said it highlighted why “saving lives at sea starts by stopping the boats entering the water in the first place.”

“As winter is approaching the seas will get rougher, the water colder, the risk of even more lives tragically being lost greater,” she said.

Ahead of its exit from the European Union last year, Britain deployed military drones to surveil people in dinghies trying to cross. On the other side, French police have cleared makeshift camps where hundreds of migrants had lived on the northern coast, while aid workers urge authorities to find housing alternatives.

Adam reported from London. Ellen Francis in London contributed to this report.