Four people dead after small boat capsizes while trying to cross Channel from France

George Bunn
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 07:36:32 +0000

Four people have died after a small boat sank in the English Channel.

The taxiboat sank just off the coast of Boulogne in the early hours of this morning.

A massive rescue operation was launched just after 7am, with reports of multiple migrants in the water.

Prefect of Pas-de-Calais Francois-Xavier Lauch has now confirmed two men and two women have died.

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UK and French authorities have expressed growing concern in recent days that people smugglers are cramming larger numbers of migrants on each boat. Yesterday, two small boats made it to the UK, each carrying more than 80 migrants.

Several attempts to launch migrants boats have taken place this morning, with at least one boat en route to the UK. Other attempted launches ran into difficulties.

A Government spokesman said: "We are deeply saddened to hear about the deaths in French waters today. Every death in the Channel is a tragedy and a stark reminder of the dangers posed by criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people for profit.

"We will continue working relentlessly with the French and our partners overseas to prevent these perilous journeys. The French authorities are leading the response to this incident and we are supporting their investigation."

Head of advocacy and public affairs at Care4Calais Charlotte Khan said: "Another four lives have been needlessly lost to our deadly border.

"As our Government continues to focus on ineffective deterrents, tragedies continue to happen. These deaths are on their hands.

"They could end the deaths on our border overnight by introducing safe routes for refugees to claim asylum in the UK. That they won’t is a political choice which shames them."

Earlier this week, GB News revealed Border Security Command has deployed new vessels to collect migrants making their way across the Channel

The newly branded Border Security Command vessel Courageous arrived at Dover harbour just after 5pm on Tuesday. The People’s Channel counted 65 migrants who were brought ashore at the new Border Security Command processing centre in Dover.

The new vessels are slightly large variants of catamarans that were previously deployed by Border Force in response to migrant sightings.

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New reports have suggested smugglers are increasingly using Belgium's shoreline to transport migrants to Britain since tighter controls began along the French coast.

Though numbers remain comparatively small, there have been 17 such departures this year, compared with no more than two per year since 2021, police spokesperson An Berger said.

EU border agency Frontex spokesperson Chris Borowski said: "The shift to Belgian beaches is driven by a combination of factors, and the intensification of French coastal patrols is the most significant one from our perspective."

Migrants pay about €2,000 (£1,741) to smugglers, with no guarantee of boarding a boat and sometimes face threats and abuse including sexual violence, authorities say.

Last month, volunteers pulled 19 people from a sinking dinghy during a night-time operation in the Belgian coastal municipality of De Haan, Berger said, adding only one had a life jacket.

More attempts are expected with better weather coming.

Some 2,200 migrants have crossed the Channel, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, to Britain in the first two months of 2026, according to data from the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory.

About 41,500 people crossed the Channel last year.