Channel crossings Eight people die when small boat sinks off French coast

Eight people died trying to cross the Channel from France to England early yesterday, French regional authorities said.

- Rajeev Syal, Diane Taylor

The French maritime prefecture said 59 people were onboard the boat, which got into difficulty off the coast of France, and 51 of them were rescued. An investigation has been opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor's office.

A 10-month-old baby was among those taken to hospital with suspected hypothermia after the boat ran aground near Ambleteuse at about 1.15am. All those who died were adult men.

Responding to reports of the deaths, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: "It's awful. It's a further loss of life." He told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme he had been to the National Crime Agency and seen the "awful 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".