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Two men have died after an overloaded boat carrying migrants ran into difficulty during an attempted crossing of the English Channel off Berck, northern France, the BBC reported.
Police saw the boat leaving the beach at about 22:00 local time on Sunday, according to local media. When rescuers arrived, passengers were trying to bail water from the vessel with their shoes.
At least 80 people, including children, were on board, Jean-Marc Lamblin, director of France’s national sea rescue service (SNSM), told the newspaper La Voix du Nord. He said the boat smelled strongly of gasoline and that about 20 people were left in the water because there was no room for them aboard.
The two men, who were in their 30s and 40s, were in cardiac arrest when rescuers reached them. They were taken ashore with two women who had suffered burns from a mixture of gasoline and seawater. The men died at about midnight.
The women, aged 20 and 26 and from Somalia, were treated at Rang-du-Fliers hospital. Their injuries were not life-threatening, La Voix du Nord reported. The Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the deaths.
Separately, the UK Home Office said 149 migrants were rescued in a mid-Channel operation on Sunday and taken to Gosport, Hampshire. Around 150 anti-migrant demonstrators gathered in the town, where flares were set off and some clashes with police were reported.
Home Office figures show that 19,451 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year. That is 43% fewer than at the same point last year and 23% below the figure recorded at this stage in 2024.
