Two migrants die after falling unconscious during crossing of English Channel
Two migrants have died trying to cross the English Channel overnight, the French coastguard has said.
A rescue operation was launched after the pair became unconscious on a boat carrying nearly 80 migrants, which left the shore from Gravelines, northern France, the coastguard said on Wednesday.
A French Navy boat set out to make contact with the boat to recover the two people and 10 others who needed help.
First responders from the vessel performed first aid on the two people, but a medical team later confirmed their deaths.
All those rescued were taken to Calais, while the remaining migrants on the boat continued their journey towards British waters under French Navy surveillance.
Pictures show migrants wrapped in blankets disembarking from a Border Force boat in Dover, Kent, on Wednesday morning.
Others were also brought to shore in an RNLI lifeboat.
The deaths on Wednesday come just days after another migrant was confirmed dead after a small boat sank in the Channel.
The Maritime Prefect of the Channel and the North Sea said on Monday that 62 people were pulled from the water after the “overloaded” boat broke up overnight.
Latest Home Office figures show 49 people in one boat arrived in the UK on Tuesday, bringing the provisional total of arrivals for the year so far to 12,748.
This is up 29% on the number recorded at this point last year (9,874) and 75% higher than the same point in 2023 (7,297), according to analysis of the data by the PA news agency.
It is also a record number for this point in the calendar year since data was first collected in 2018.
Reacting to the deaths, the head of campaigns at charity Safe Passage International, Gunes Kalkan, said: “It’s been another devastating week in the Channel, with more people needlessly losing their lives in search of safety.
“These losses can’t be prevented whilst people fleeing war and persecution don’t have safe routes to ask for protection here.
“We need international cooperation with European nations to be focused on providing safe routes and protection, through a refugee visa and expanding family reunion.”
