Candlelit vigil in Calais for those who drowned in Channel

A vigil was held in Calais Thursday for all migrants who have died attempting to cross the English Channel after at least 27 lost their lives the day before.

Seaside communities on both sides of the channel were reeling Thursday from the sinking's gruesome toll in waters crisscrossed by hulking freighters and often whipped up by treacherous weather, waves and currents.

Ever-increasing numbers of people fleeing conflict or poverty in Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Eritrea or elsewhere are risking the perilous journey in small, unseaworthy craft from France, hoping to win asylum or find better opportunities in Britain.

The crossings have tripled this year compared to 2020. French authorities said Wednesday's was the deadliest migration tragedy in the channel since seven migrants died in October 2020.

Losses on that scale, however, are not uncommon in the Mediterranean Sea, where just this year about 1,600 people have died or gone missing, according to U.N. estimates.

IMAGE: AP