Around 70 people were trying to get into a small boat attempting to launch from a beach when it overturned in the early hours of Sunday morning, French media reports said.
Dozens were pulled from the water during overnight rescue efforts in Wimereux, to the south of Calais.
One person who is in a critical condition has been transferred to a hospital in nearby Boulogne-sur-Mer, a spokesperson from the French maritime prefecture told the BBC.
It said 32 people had been rescued and that one person has non-life threatening injuries.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Around 70 people were trying to get into a small boat attempting to launch from a beach when it overturned in the early hours of Sunday morning, French media reports said.
One person who is in a critical condition has been transferred to a hospital in nearby Boulogne-sur-Mer, a spokesperson from the French maritime prefecture told the BBC.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the Channel deaths “must be a wake up call to take decisive action” - including the provision of safe route for those fleeing war-torn countries.
And he insisted that passing the UK government’s Rwanda bill - which aims to send some asylum seekers to the African country - was “essential” to save lives and stop people crossing the Channel on small boats.
Speaking on the same programme, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the incident was a “tragic loss of life” and added: “I absolutely agree we need to stop these Channel crossings”.
But the Labour leader rejected the “gimmick” of the Rwanda scheme, saying the UK should “go after the criminal gangs that are running this vile trade [of boat crossings]”.
The original article contains 626 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!