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Four migrants died in two separate attempts to cross the Channel from France to Britain, French authorities said on Thursday.
A boat sank late Wednesday off the coast of the seaside town of Hardelot, leading to the death of one man, while three more people were found dead near the port of Dunkirk, they said.
In 2025, 6,177 migrants were saved on the French side of the Channel by French authorities. At least 29 migrants died at sea in 2025 according to official French and British sources.
“The risks to which people smugglers expose migrants are becoming ever greater,” say French authorities. The number of people by small boat is rising year after year: 26 per boat in 2021, 45 in 2023, 65 in 2025. That year, ten crafts transported more than 100 migrants.
In April, the British government signed a three-year agreement with the French authorities, providing for the payment of £662M (€771M) to fund patrols on the beaches from which these makeshift boats set sail.
On the British side, 41,472 migrants arrived on the coast in small boats in 2025, according to the British government, the second-highest total after the record of 45,774 recorded in 2022.
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