Only eight of the people on board an inflatable dinghy which fell apart in the English Channel were wearing life jackets, a factor that shows how little smuggling gangs care about migrants.

A pregnant woman and six children were among 12 people who died after their boat sank off the coast of Cap Gris-Nez, France, on Tuesday.

The French coastguard confirmed the deaths after up to 65 people were rescued in an incident branded “horrifying and deeply tragic” by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Most of the people on the vessel were believed to have been from Eritrea and most of the victims were women, according to French interior minister Gerald Darmanin.

Fishermen who recovered some of the bodies said they were moved to tears. Samba Sy Ndiaye, who works aboard one of two fishing boats which helped with the French rescue effort, said: “The bodies of two women were very young. That hurt me. I cried all day. I couldn’t stop.”

Fellow crew member of the Murex, Axel Baheu, said the body of one young woman had a telephone in a waterproof pouch around her neck.

He said the phone started to ring as he was pulling her out of the water and checking for a pulse. Mr Baheu added: “That was hard because you know full well that no one will ever answer.”

His father, Jean Marie Baheu, said he saw another migrant boat set off in front of his house a day after the tragedy.

Jean Marie said: “When the weather is good and there’s no wind, there are departures every day. At the beginning, you’d see 20, 30 people. Now, it’s minimum 70, 80.”

The inflatable spotted on Wednesday around the town of Wimereux appeared to make slow headway, with a patrol vessel tracking it and a larger one shadowing it from further away.

The French maritime agency overseeing that section of the sea said the boats were monitoring the inflatable in case it ran into difficulty or people aboard requested help.

In a statement, the agency said although maritime law forbids the use at sea of makeshift inflatables, it’s too dangerous to force them back to shore when the boats are heavily laden.

It added: “It’s difficult to achieve with more than 50 people on board who are vehemently refusing to be rescued.

“The main risk is a stampede on board and then a capsizing, these boats being neither stable nor reliable.

“The risk of loss of human life being too high for an intervention under duress, the choice is made to prioritize the protection of the people on board and by simply monitoring from a distance the navigation capabilities of these boats.

“It is therefore more a question of ethics than of blind application of the law.”

At least 21,720 migrants have managed to cross the English Channel so far this year, according to the Government. This is three percent more than at the same stage last year, but 19 percent lower than the same period in 2022.

The boat which ripped apart on Tuesday was one of several crossing attempts made by migrants that day. Authorities said at least 317 migrants arrived on board five boats.

Mayor of Wimereux, Jean-Luc Dubaële, pleaded for French and British officials to do more to limit the number of migrants attempting the often perilous journey.

He said: “Unfortunately, every day is like this for us. The smugglers — a criminal network — continue with insistence to send people to their deaths in the channel.

“It really is unacceptable, scandalous. And it is high time that a lasting solution is found with Britain. Let’s ask ourselves the question: Why do they want to go to Britain? Because something is drawing them there.

“They can ask for asylum in France. None ask for the right to asylum in France. They all want to go to Britain. So it is high time that we sit around a table with the new British government.”