A body found at dawn on the beach of Wimereux, an investigation opened to search for the causes of death

This morning, a body in an advanced state of decomposition was found on Wimereux beach. An investigation into the causes of death has been opened. The condition of the body does not allow us to determine at this stage whether it was a migrant.

A body was discovered this Saturday, December 21, 2024 at 7:45 a.m. on Wimereux beach by a fisherman at a sailing school. “The advanced state of decomposition of the body does not allow, for the moment, to know the age, origin or sex of the person.“, indicated the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais, confirming the information collected by a journalist from France 3 Hauts-de-France on site. The police went to the scene and waited for the intervention of the funeral directors who removed the body.

An investigation into the causes of death was opened and entrusted to the Boulogne-sur-Mer police station, indicated the prosecution, specifying that the state of the body did not make it possible to determine at this stage whether it was 'a migrant.

Bodies are regularly found on the coast of Pas-de-Calais. 2024 is already the deadliest year in the Channel. This macabre discovery brings to sixteen the number of bodies found at sea or on the coasts of northern France since the end of October, after several fatal shipwrecks of migrant boats, according to an AFP count based on official sources.

At least 73 candidates for exile have died trying to cross the Channel to reach England since the start of the year, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture. This makes 2024 the deadliest year since the appearance, in the Channel in 2018, of the phenomenon of “small boats”, these boats often overloaded with migrants without life jackets.