A migrant has died after a small boat heading for the UK ‘collapsed’ overnight, French authorities have said.
The disaster unfolded at around 3am on Monday following a Mayday call to the Gris-Nez rescue centre on France’s northern coast.
The Abeille Normandie tug scrambled to the scene, along with a lifeboat from Dungeness, Kent, and the UK Border Force Ranger vessel.
A French Navy helicopter assisting the crews spotted an unconscious person in the water. They were pulled from the water onto the French tug by RNLI crews but declared dead by medics on board.
‘Initially, the Abeille Normandie was monitoring the stricken boat,’ said a spokesman for France’s Channel Prefecture.
‘During the monitoring, the overloaded boat broke up,’ causing dozens of people including women and children to fall into the water.
Aircrafts from France and Britain both assisted in the operation and rescued around 61 people from the boat designed to carry just 18.
The spokesman added: ‘During its search of the area, a helicopter located an unresponsive person in the water.’
A migrant has died after a small boat ‘collapsed’ while trying to cross the Channel overnight (Stock Image)
The disaster unfolded around 3am on Monday following a Mayday call to the Gris-Nez rescue centre on France ’s northern coast (Stock Image)
The Abeille Normandie tug scrambled to the scene, along with a lifeboat from Dungeness, Kent, and the UK Border Force Ranger vessel (pictured in 2023)
Among those rescued were a mother and child who were evacuated by helicopter to Boulogne-sur-Mer hospital, suffering from hypothermia.
Four men suffering from the same condition after being taken out of the extremely cold sea were also treated.
Others were taken to the dock at Boulogne, and looked after by emergency workers.
No identities were immediately released for any of those involved, nor their ages and countries of origin.
Some 10 people have now died trying to reach Britain on small boats this year alone.
Prosecutors in France have started an enquiry into the latest fatality, while judicial police are looking for the people smugglers who arranged the crossing.
A total of 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to reach England in the same way.
Prosecutors in France have started an enquiry into the latest fatality, while judicial police are looking for the people smugglers who arranged the crossing (Stock Image)
This was a record since smugglers started launching small boats full of migrants in 2018.
In January, a Syrian man became the first UK-bound migrant of 2025 to die in the Channel after being crushed to death in an overcrowded boat.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said of such tragedies: ‘Our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organising these crossings of death.’
In April 2024, a criminal enquiry was launched following the deaths of five migrants including a little girl around Wimereux, near Calais.
The worst tragedy of this kind came in November 2021, when 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank while heading to the UK – the highest recorded number of deaths from a single incident.
Last month, it was announced that the number of people who have crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2025 has exceeded 10,000, an increase of about 40% compared with the same period last year.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
