12 dead after migrant boat capsizes in Channel

At least 12 people have died in the English Channel after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized, according to French authorities.

A further two people are missing and several injured, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said.

The French coast guard said more than 50 people had been rescued off the Gris-Nez cape. Several were being treated by medical staff, it added.

The disaster is the deadliest loss of life in the Channel this year.

It brings the toll of people who have lost their lives attempting the journey across the English Channel this year to at least 37, out of more than 20,000 people who have made the crossing.

"Terrible shipwreck in Pas-de-Calais," Mr Darmanin wrote on X.

He said that emergency services were working to find those still missing and take care of the victims.

He is expected to travel to the site, near the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, later on Tuesday.