At least 3 migrants die trying to cross the English Channel

At least three migrants died early Sunday while attempting to cross the English Channel to Britain from Northern France, marking another grim chapter in the ongoing migrant crisis.

The French coast guard says it responded at around 6 a.m. local time near Blériot-Plage in Sangatte, a town in northern France near the Port of Calais.

Approximately 50 migrants were rescued from the freezing waters, the coast guard said, many in a state of severe hypothermia. Among them, four individuals required intensive medical attention, and officials warned the number of fatalities could climb. Three bodies pulled from the water were unable to be revived.

This latest deaths come less than a week after French authorities reported rescuing more than 100 migrants trying to cross the Channel on Christmas Day. At least 850 people made it to the U.K. via small boats on Dec. 25 and 26, according to figures from the British Home Office.

“It never stops,” Guy Allemend, the mayor of Sangette, told French newswire Agence France-Presse. “It’s crossing after crossing, without any letup.”

The English Channel, though only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, has become one of the deadliest routes for migrants seeking to reach the U.K.

Treacherous conditions, including strong currents and crowded shipping lanes, have compounded the risks for those making the journey in small boats.

Stricter immigration policies and fortified border controls have left many migrants fleeing war, poverty and persecution with few options but to turn to people-smuggling networks and unsafe methods of travel.

The reasons why so many asylum seekers seek out the U.K. as opposed to other countries in Europe vary, according to the Red Cross. The NGO says many are trying to join family in the U.K. or already speak some English.

At least 77 migrants have died or gone missing in the Channel since January, making 2024 the deadliest year on record for such crossings. Tens of thousands of migrants have reached Britain, with nearly 36,000 arriving in small boats since January.

The crisis has heightened tensions between the U.K. and France.

Both governments have ramped up patrols and surveillance efforts, but critics argue these measures have done little to address the root causes of migration or to stop deaths.

In November, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described people-smuggling gangs as a “global security threat similar to terrorism” and called for stronger international cooperation.