A migrant has died after falling into the sea while trying to cross the Channel to Britain in an overcrowded small boat, French authorities said.
The man was among a dozen people who fell into the water near Hardelot in northern France, the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea said.
He was recovered from the sea and transported to land by helicopter, where he was tragically pronounced dead.
It brings the number of deaths caused by crossings in overcrowded dinghies to a total of 57 this year.
Many people attempted the dangerous crossing today and have left since early this morning due to good weather conditions, French authorities said.
A photo from May shows migrants waiting for rescue after their boat’s generator broke down in French waters
On Wednesday morning, a deflated blue-black rubber boat lay on the beach, a journalist on the scene reported.
Rescue services, including fire trucks with flashing lights, were deployed to the coast.
Rescue workers led about 20 migrants to a nearby building to warm up.
About two miles from the coast, journalists spotted six soaked migrants, some wrapped in survival blankets, sitting on a bench.
A member of the charity Utopia 56, which works with migrants, said several people suffered from ‘severe hypothermia’ after falling into the sea.
As British and French authorities move to crack down on people smuggling gangs, activists say traffickers are now herding larger groups of migrants into increasingly overcrowded and unsafe boats.
A group of people believed to be migrants are today taken to Dover, Kent, on board a Border Force vessel following a minor boating incident in the Channel
Celestin Pichaud of Utopia 56 said the situation was “beyond dramatic.”
“For several months now, one person has been dying every five days trying to cross the Channel,” he said.
“Rescue services on land and at sea are completely overwhelmed.”
More and more migrants and asylum seekers have crossed the Channel since 2018, despite repeated warnings about the dangerous journey.
Drownings and fatal crushes on crowded boats since January have made 2024 the deadliest year since 2018 for migrants trying to reach Britain by sea.
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An Indian man was killed off the French coast on Sunday while trying to cross the Channel.
Last Wednesday, a woman and two men died after their small boat sank in the Channel off the northern port city of Calais.
The week before, a four-month-old baby died in an overloaded boat on its way to Britain.
According to figures from the British Home Office, more than 26,000 migrants have landed on British shores since January 1.
