Two people have died attempting to cross the Channel in a dinghy, according to the French authorities, bringing the death toll since mid-July to at least nine.
Fifty-three people were rescued by a helicopter and several ships sent to the scene by Gris-Nez Regional operation and surveillance centre. HM Coastguard also provided assistance, but two people were declared dead after being found unconscious onboard.
In a separate incident on Sunday morning, 50 people were rescued including several who had suffered petrol burns. Survivors from both incidents were taken back to France. There had been no crossings for four days before today’s incident owing to adverse weather conditions.
There have been 17 deaths so far this year. The most recent before Sunday was on 28 July and involved a woman believed to have suffocated in a dinghy.
While the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s deaths are not yet known, organisations such as Utopia 56, which supports displaced and homeless people in France, and Alarm Phone, which monitors the Channel and the Mediterranean and passes distress calls on to the coastguard, have blamed the increase in deaths on the UK’s crackdown on small boats.
An Alarm Phone spokesperson told the Guardian last week: “We believe that at least 62 people have died at the UK border since March 2023, when the UK and France signed their latest deal to ‘stop the boats’.
“Of those, 39 people died in sea-crossing-related incidents and eight of those were crushed to death in the dinghy. Are these numbers within the acceptable limits for the UK and French governments?”
The number of dinghies available has decreased after attempts by the UK and others to disrupt the supply chain in countries where they are sourced. NGOs say this has led to a larger number of people frantically rushing to board the available dinghies. French police sometimes slash the boats with knives, rendering them useless.
The government publishes daily figures for small-boat Channel crossings, including the number of people crossing and the number of boats they crossed in. The average number in each boat has risen from 20-30 in each boat in 2018 to 60-70, and there have recently been reports of more than 100 people crammed into vessels.
A UK government spokesperson confirmed that the “tragic incident” had taken place and said it “underlines the terrible dangers of small boat crossings”. “We continue to do everything we can to prevent callous criminals exploiting vulnerable people. Our thoughts are with those affected,” they said.
