Boat rips apart in the English Channel off France killing 12 migrants

A boat carrying migrants ripped apart in the English Channel as they attempted to reach Britain from northern France on Tuesday, plunging dozens into the treacherous waterway and leaving 12 dead, authorities said.

Most of the victims were believed to be women, some under 18, and many of the passengers didn't have life preservers, officials said, with one calling it the deadliest migrant accident in the Channel this year.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin went to Boulogne-sur-Mer to meet those involved in handling what he described as the “terrible shipwreck.”

He said the boat was frail and small -- less than 7 meters (23 feet) long -- and that smugglers are packing more and more people aboard such vessels.

Most of the people on the boat were believed to be from Eritrea, and most of the victims were women, he said.

He called on the UK's new Labour government to change immigration legislation, "and help us work as a friendly neighboring country with people who have the right to asylum anywhere on European territory."

The mayor of Le Portel, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, also called for "solutions" via renewed dialogue with UK authorities.

“We will say solutions because these problems have remained for 30 years now and it is essential that we can of course find solutions," said Olivier Barbarin.

Rescuers pulled a total of 65 people from the English Channel on Tuesday in a search that lasted more than four hours, according to Lt. Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French agency that oversees the stretch of sea where the boat ripped apart. Doctors confirmed 12 died, he said.

Another 12 people were hospitalized, and two were in very serious conditions, authorities said.