Child among three dead off French coast in Channel crossing attempt
Three people, including a child, have died off the coast of France in an attempt to cross the English Channel, after a distress call from an inflatable dinghy carrying 105 people, French authorities said.
Three people, including a child, have died off the coast of France while attempting to cross the English Channel to the United Kingdom, French authorities said on Monday.
France’s maritime police said they had received a distress call from an inflatable dinghy carrying 105 people that had run into trouble in calm seas. The incident involving what authorities called a “taxi boat” occurred off Wissant, a village in northern France. A taxi boat is a dinghy that approaches the beach from the sea to pick up migrants in shallow water.
All passengers on board requested rescue and were taken into care, the maritime prefecture said, adding that the dinghy had not sunk. The AFP news agency reported that a rescue boat arrived at the port of Calais to disembark people rescued from the incident.
The deaths add to a toll that has made the Channel one of the most dangerous migration routes to Britain. At least 29 migrants lost their lives attempting the crossing last year, according to an AFP tally based on official French and British sources, while more than 41,000 embarked on the journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
In April, France and the United Kingdom signed an agreement to strengthen operations to prevent crossings. A plan put forward last month by Reform UK to deploy the navy to intercept and return asylum seekers triggered a dispute with France, whose interior ministry said the measure would breach international law.
Sources
- Al Jazeera, “Child among three killed off French coast in Channel crossing attempt” (28 September 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/28/child-among-three-killed-off-french-coast-in-channel-crossing-attempt
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