Migrants: the number of deaths during Channel crossings continues to increase

Crossing attempts with dramatic outcomes have followed one another in recent weeks in the waters that separate France from the United Kingdom. On Saturday, November 2, the body of an “African type” man was discovered on Descenderie beach, in Sangatte (Pas-de-Calais), the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office told Agence France Presse.

On October 30, three bodies were returned by sea and found on the beach of Saint-Etienne-au-Mont, still in Pas-de-Calais, while a man died during an attempted crossing. “Numerous departures of migrant boats” were reported that day, but also the next day, at the Gris-Nez regional operational surveillance and rescue center (CROSS) off the coast of Pas-de-Calais, North and the Somme, indicated the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea. Since October 24, the authorities have indicated that they have rescued more than 500 people during their attempts to cross the Channel, most often on makeshift canoes (“small boats”).

30,000 arrivals in Great Britain since January

According to the count kept by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of deaths during these crossings so far stands at 64 since the start of the year, compared to a total of 24 in 2023, and 16 in 2022.

On the other side of the Channel, the British Interior Ministry confirmed the increase in the number of crossings: according to provisional figures made public on October 26, 30,431 people had crossed the Channel since January 1, an increase by 14% compared to the figures for 2023 on the same date, but down compared to the year 2022, when nearly 40,000 people attempted and succeeded in the crossing.

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