Overview

• One migrant died and 15 others were rescued from an overloaded boat attempting to cross the English Channel early Thursday morning.
• The boat initially carried about 40 people but picked up additional passengers, increasing the total to approximately 80, before continuing its journey toward the UK.
• French authorities are actively monitoring the vessel, which remains at sea with around 80 migrants on board, and have launched an investigation into the death of one passenger.
• This incident follows another fatality on Wednesday morning, marking two migrant deaths in two days and bringing the total number of Channel fatalities this year to eight.
• Increasingly strict asylum policies, xenophobia, and perceptions of better opportunities in the UK are driving migrants to undertake these dangerous crossings in overcrowded and unsafe vessels.