Four Migrants Found Dead After Two Clandestine Channel Crossings

Overview

• French maritime patrols recovered four deceased migrants and treated six people with light injuries, including a one-year-old, following two separate attempts to cross the Strait of Pas-de-Calais.
• Rescuers found three motionless people in a small skiff off Dunkerque and evacuated them to port where they were declared dead on arrival.
• A separate 'taxi boat' sank off Hardelot, leaving one man dead and six lightly injured, and the vessel was later neutralized by internal security forces.
• Authorities have opened a judicial investigation to determine who operated the boats and the precise circumstances that led to the sinking and the deaths.
• The incidents bring the provisional death toll from Channel crossings in the Pas-de-Calais to at least 14 this year and underline the persistent risk posed by smuggler‑run small boats in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.