Britain’s “hypocrisy is being inflicted on us” Calais’ conservative mayor Natacha Bouchart told reporters in a press conference that confirmed the toll of 12, including six children.

Bouchart pointed to labour laws in Britain that some French politicians argue are a draw for migrants to attempt the dangerous crossing, as well as the existence of British people-smuggling outfits.

“At some point we need to have a showdown with this government” to avoid “being in the same place in 50 years, with people wanting to reach England because it’s still an El Dorado,” she added.

Britain has been sharing some costs for beefed-up policing on France’s north coast, including €4.5 million for 11 kilometres of fencing around a cargo terminal that Bouchart unveiled Wednesday.

The barriers are supposed to stop people slipping aboard trucks bound for the UK via ferries or through the Channel Tunnel.

Didier Leschi, head of France’s Ofii immigration and integration authority, said Britain “has an internal system that appears like an El Dorado — certainly in error — because it’s a country where you can easily get work without having a residency permit”.

He told broadcaster France Info that survivors of Tuesday’s disaster would be offered the opportunity to file an asylum claim in France but “it’s not certain that they will accept”.

Meanwhile the office of France’s rights ombudsman in a statement said the mass deaths, which bring 2024’s total toll to at least 37, “call for a profound reshaping of national and European asylum and immigration policy”.

This year has been the deadliest in the Channel since mass small boat crossings took off in 2018, when ferry and tunnel access was locked down.