Three people tragically drowned on Sunday after falling into the water from an overloaded boat attempting the perilous passage from France to the UK, marking 2024 as the deadliest year on record for Channel crossings.
The tiny vessel ran aground about 6am near Blériot-Plage, a popular beach a few miles along the coast from Calais. Passengers fell into the sea while trying to board an overcrowded boat.
A major rescue operation with helicopters and sea patrols managed to save 48 people, of whom 45 required urgent medical care, mostly for hypothermia. Four were taken to the hospital in critical condition. Three people were pulled from the water and pronounced dead by emergency responders.
The Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation about the incident. French maritime forces continued scouring the shoreline Sunday morning, locating several other small boats in distress and foiling more efforts to board them.
According to Sangatte Mayor Guy Allemand, “It never stops. It is crossing after crossing, with no letup.”
Favourable winds and improving weather conditions have seen an uptick in attempts to cross the Channel in recent days. Between December 25 and 28, alone, 1,485 people made the perilous journey, with dozens more reportedly arriving in Dover earlier on Sunday.
These numbers raise questions about the UK government’s claims of disrupting smuggling operations by targeting dinghies in European countries like Germany.
Pas-de-Calais authorities reported that Sunday’s tragedy has increased the total number of deaths in 2024 to at least 76. Other earlier incidents this year were the death of a baby in October and the tragedy in September that claimed 12 lives, six of whom were children.
Since 2018, over 150,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats, and 36,000 of them have arrived this year a 23% increase compared to 2023.
The UK government has pledged to clamp down on people-smuggling gangs, as the opposition Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, called them a “global security threat like terrorism” and appealed for international cooperation.
