At least 13 people were killed after their boat ripped apart on Tuesday during an attempted crossing of the English Channel in France, reports said.
The mayor of a French coastal town being used in a rescue operation confirmed to AP that 13 migrants are dead.
As per the report, dozens of people plunged into the treacherous waters of the busy channel.
“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open,” 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 told AP.
“It's a big drama,” he was quoted as saying.
The report also quoting a maritime rescue official also confirmed to AP that at least 13 migrants were dead.
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, report mentioned.
The prefecture said the boat got into difficulty off Gris-Nez point, it said.
Both Baggio and the mayor said rescuers recovered 61 people from the waters, it stated.
Sea temperatures off northern France were around 20 degrees C, or about 68 F, it stated.
At least 30 migrants have died or gone missing while trying to cross to the UK this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration, it added.
At least 2,109 migrants have tried to cross the English Channel on small boats in the past seven days, according to UK Home Office data updated Tuesday, it said.
The data includes people found in the channel or on arrival, it added.
Europe's increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have been pushing them north, it said.
