The body of a woman was found on the beach at Sangatte in northern France early on Tuesday (September 26).

Firefighters "intervened this morning to aid a young woman in cardio-respiratory arrest," the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department told the news agency AFP. "Despite their efforts, she was declared dead."

The exact circumstances of the woman’s death were not known, the authorities said, adding that her body was being examined. According to their information, she was a 24-year-old Eritrean national.

'Many' crossing attempts

The woman’s death followed a night of relatively calm weather in which French maritime authorities reported that there had been many attempts to cross the Channel to Britain.

Nikolai Posner, from the aid group Utopia 56, said the 'weather window' for crossings had led to tension and fights among migrants. The group’s emergency hotline for migrants on the northern coast had received many calls overnight, he added.

Utopia 56 was sent a video at 5:30 am on Tuesday – later seen by AFP – which showed a brown-haired woman in jeans and trainers lying by the water, surrounded by several people including at least one wearing a life jacket.

"Our teams can't bear witnessing so much violence any more," Posner told the news agency. "The deaths keep piling up and no-one's doing anything to really put a stop to them."

Also read: France cracks down in attempt to stop migrant boat departures

Deaths at sea and on land

Prior to the Eritrean woman, the last known deaths of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel happened on August 12, when six Afghans aged between 21 and 34 lost their lives.

The worst disaster on the route occurred when at least 27 people died in a single shipwreck in the Channel in November 2021 – this led France to boost patrols along its northern coast.

Several people have also died while trying to reach the UK in vehicles. At the beginning of July, a man fell from a truck in which he had been hiding on his way to Britain on the A16 motorway near Calais. Three others have died in similar accidents in the north of France since January.

Also read: 'Either we die from the cold, or we drown in the sea'

Almost 24,000 people have made the trip across the Channel between France and Britain this year. The UK government is pursuing controversial proposals to prevent arrivals, including criminalizing migrants who arrive without documents and sending people whose asylum claims are rejected to Rwanda.

On Tuesday, the interior minister, Suella Braverman, gave a speech in the United States in which she called for changes to the UN Refugee Convention to limit access to asylum.