Child and two women die attempting to cross the English Channel

A 10-year-old child and two women died attempting to cross the Channel on Monday, French authorities have said.

Their deaths and the injuries of dozens of others in a large dinghy were probably caused by crushing, according to a French official.

France’s maritime police said it received a distress call in the early hours from an inflatable dinghy carrying 105 people that had run into trouble in calm seas.

The three passengers were treated onboard but were later confirmed dead by an emergency medical team flown out by helicopter.

François-Xavier Lauch, the 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.”

The incident happened off the coast of Wissant, a village about 14 miles (23km) from Calais.

A spokesperson for the local prefecture confirmed “a provisional total of three deaths and many more injured”, adding that “sea conditions were calm – the weather is good”.

The prefecture described the boat as a “water taxi”, saying it had arrived relatively empty from an inland waterway before picking up passengers from the beach at Wissant.

At 10.30am local time – 9.30am, UK time – six rescue boats were still at the scene searching for people in the water.

At least 17 people, including women and children, have died in the Channel this year while attempting to reach the UK. Many have drowned, while others have died in incidents involving overcrowded boats.

Three bodies were found last week after chaotic “water taxi” departures of this kind in northern France.

So far this year, 18,609 people have made the Channel crossing – more than 40% fewer than at the same point last year. The number is also more than 25% lower than at this stage in 2024, when 25,165 people had crossed the Channel.

Last week there were two uncontrolled landings in the UK, where dinghies arrived without being intercepted by authorities.

It comes as more than 80 people, including a baby, are feared to have died while attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands by sea in August.

On Monday, a rescue boat arrived at the port of Calais in the mid-morning, where it began disembarking people rescued from the accident. A coach, fire service and police vehicles were deployed at the scene.

The northern beaches of France have become a key crossing point for people without visas hoping to cross the Channel.

They pay people smugglers to board unstable rubber dinghies to make the journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

At least 29 people lost their lives last year trying to cross the Channel, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official French and British sources.

Official figures cited by the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, show irregular migration to the EU – notably via Mediterranean sea routes – has plummeted since its peak during the 2015 refugee crisis.

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will on Monday announce the reopening of a scheme to resettle refugees in the UK as she says “fairness” is at the heart of her vision for the Home Office.

It will come as she focuses on safe and legal refugee routes to the UK in her Labour party conference speech.

The UK resettlement scheme will reopen immediately, with around a quarter of those admitted to the UK under it expected to be Palestinians and women and girls from Afghanistan.

UK government sources said officials were aware of the fatalities.