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Four people including two children have died in two separate incidents while trying to cross the Channel to the UK in the last 24 hours, while three others are missing in a third incident.
On Tuesday night off the coast of Sangatte, France, three people lost their lives while travelling on a dinghy with 38 people onboard. Three others are missing after an incident in Neufchâtel-Hardelot, France, on a boat with 115 people onboard.
On Tuesday afternoon a woman was confirmed dead after a rescue attempt on the UK side of the Channel. The woman was airlifted to Dover but her life could not be saved.
The deaths come just days after former home secretary Yvette Cooper announced the suspension of refugee family reunion, a safe route used mainly by women and children to reunite with immediate family members granted refugee status in the UK.
According to the French authorities, Channel crossing attempts have been particularly high for several days along the Boulogne coast. On Sunday, 1,097 people crossed the Channel to the UK in 17 boats.
French media outlet La Voix Du Nord has reported that of the three people confirmed dead, two are from Vietnam and one is Egyptian.
Laurent Touvet, préfet of Pas-de-Calais, said it was “a difficult and tragic night” and added: “Smuggler networks bear the responsibility for these tragedies. The state is determined to combat them.”
However, NGOs working with people in northern France hoping to cross the Channel to the UK take a different view.
Lachlan Macrae of Calais Food Collective said: “These crossings are becoming deadlier in large part due to increased policing on the French side and a lack of safe routes to the UK. People trying to cross are now hiding their lifejackets in bin bags or under blankets to avoid being targeted by the French police. Responsibility for these deaths lies squarely with the UK and French governments.”
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said: “Four people dying in the Channel in the past 24 hours, including two children, is another heartbreaking and needless loss of life.
“People only risk crossing the Channel when what they are fleeing is more terrifying than the dangers ahead. Every day, our frontline teams meet men, women and children who had no choice but to flee their homes in war-torn countries and leave everything behind in search of safety, even if that meant separating from their families.”
According to the International Organisation for Migration, 85 people died trying to cross the Channel in 2024, and from the beginning of 2025 until 15 August, a further 24 deaths were recorded.
Thousands of people have crossed the Channel in small boats since the new “one in, one out” agreement with France took effect in August, according to Home Office figures. The plan proposes that for each migrant the UK returns to France, another person with a strong case for asylum in Britain will be allowed to stay.
A UK government spokesperson said: “We are aware of reports of an incident in the Channel in French territorial waters. French authorities are leading the response and investigation. We will not be commenting further at this stage.”
More than 30,000 people have reached the UK in small boats so far in 2025, and more than 50,000 have crossed since Labour came into power in July 2024.
