A migrant has reportedly died attempting to cross the English Channel after a vessel they were travelling on struck difficulty on Wednesday.
French coastguards were reportedly called to assist off the coast of Hardelot, where they responded to reports of two people in the water.
According to The Sun, no British vessels were deployed to assist with the rescue mission but are understood to be monitoring the latest incident. It has since been confirmed that one of the people in the water tragically died.
Reports claim that this marks one of the first migrant crossing attempts in over a week, as warmer weather and calm seas tend to correlate with an uptick in people attempting to cross the Channel.
According to UK government data, there have been no small boat crossings or migrant arrivals in at least a week.
News of today’s tragedy comes on the same day that Italian authorities confirmed they had recovered the bodies of six migrants after a dinghy sank during an attempt to enter Europe from Tunisia in a separate incident.
A further 10 people, including four women, were rescued while trying to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean and were safely brought ashore.
Migrants from a number of countries around the world attempt to enter the UK each year, in a lot of cases fleeing political persecution, famine, violence, or conflict.
Home Office data from 2024 shows that out of the 37,000 people crossing that year, the top nationalities arriving on small boats included those from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Vietnam and Eritrea.
Small boat crossings, a topic that a number of British politicians have vowed to address, are dangerous and usually rely on smuggling gangs that sometimes overpack the boats.
Earlier this month, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“We are delivering real change in our approach through legislation to create new tools, powers, offences and enforcement action which will keep us one step ahead of the people-smuggling gangs.”
At the start of 2025, the UK government announced new laws in an effort to crack down on migrant crossings, enhancing prosecution powers against people believed to be facilitating the crossings.
