Migrants in an inflatable boat off the coast of Gravelines, in northern France, during an attempt to cross the English Channel to the United Kingdom, in April 2024. (Credit: Sameer al-Doumy.)
A migrant died and several others were injured on the night from Sunday to Monday during a clandestine attempt to cross the Channel, the maritime prefecture of northern France announced Monday.
The shipwreck occurred off Hardelot, near Boulogne-sur-Mer (north), according to the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Premar).
Sixty-six people were rescued, including “some victims of burns and hypothermia,” Premar told AFP, specifying that all these people “were brought ashore and taken care of.” The prefecture of Pas-de-Calais reported six injured. Two ships, a maritime affairs patrol boat and a National Navy tug, as well as a National Navy helicopter, were deployed for this rescue operation.
Including the person who died Monday, at least eleven migrants have died since early 2025 attempting to reach England on “small boats,” these precarious clandestine vessels often overloaded. “The body of a migrant was brought back last night to Le Portel by the (rescue tug) Abeille Normandie after a grounding off our coasts,” regretted the mayor of Le Portel (north), Olivier Barbarin, on Facebook.
In 2024, according to the count by the Office to Combat Illicit Migrant Trafficking (Oltim), 78 migrants died in these dangerous crossings, a record since the beginning of this phenomenon in 2018. From January to December 2024, more than 36,800 people arrived in the UK on makeshift boats, 25% more than in 2023. Under pressure to curb these crossings, British Labour government led by Keir Starmer is set to unveil Monday a roadmap including “radical measures” to reduce immigration.
