Nocturnal 
A 10-year-old child and two women have died attempting to cross the English Channel, after a dinghy carrying an extraordinary 105 people got into difficulty off the coast of northern France on Monday morning.
French maritime police said they received a distress call in the early hours from the overcrowded inflatable, which had launched from Blériot Plage near Sangatte before running into trouble in what officials described as calm seas near Wissant, close to Calais.
Three passengers were treated on board but were later confirmed dead by an emergency medical team flown out by helicopter. Of the 102 others on the boat, nine were treated by emergency services after arriving at the port of Calais, and six rescue boats remained at the scene searching for people in the water hours later.
“Just as dreadful” – officials point to crushing, not drowning
Pas-de-Calais prefecture said its initial findings suggested the deaths were caused by trampling or crushing, though an investigation has been launched to confirm the exact cause.
François-Xavier Lauch, prefect of Pas-de-Calais, told a press conference: “Apparently there was no drowning, it was likely crushing – which is just as dreadful, especially if we think of the 10-year-old child.”
He said the tragedy showed how smuggling networks expose vulnerable people, including children, to deadly risks. The vessel was what French authorities call a “taxi-boat” – a dinghy that arrives from an inland waterway relatively empty before picking up passengers who have to wade into the sea to board.
Three other people died in similar taxi-boat departures in the region just last week, according to French authorities.
Deaths add to grim toll for 2026
Figures on the year’s total death toll vary slightly between sources. The Pas-de-Calais prefecture told the BBC that Monday’s deaths take the 2026 total to 20, against 21 for the same period last year, while The Guardian reported that at least 17 people have died in the Channel this year attempting the crossing. Last year, at least 29 people are believed to have died making the journey, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of official figures.
Despite the deaths, the overall number of successful crossings has fallen sharply this year. So far, 18,609 people have made it across in small boats in 2026 – more than 40% down on the 32,188 who had crossed by the same point in 2025, and also well below 2024 levels, according to Home Office and French figures.
The route remains one of the busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes in the world, and more people typically attempt it during the calmer summer months. Last week, two boats reached UK shores at Folkestone and Samphire Hoe in Kent without being intercepted.
Under a “one in, one out” returns deal agreed between the UK and France last July, Britain can return some small boat arrivals while accepting an equal number of people from France with a legitimate claim to come to the UK. The government has said crossing numbers are falling but that it needs to “push further and harder” to tackle what it has called a “vile trade”.
An investigation into exactly what happened on Monday’s boat is ongoing, and the final death toll from the incident has not been ruled out from rising further.
