A migrant is reported to have died while crossing the English Channel at the weekend. Since the beginning of the year, until June 20, 10,744 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK. Last year, at least 29 people are thought to have died trying to cross the English Channel in various ways.
On Saturday (June 20), a migrant was pronounced dead by the British authorities after reaching British waters in a small boat. The report of her death was confirmed by the French authorities in a round-up of rescues, interventions and crossings published on their X page on June 21.
According to their report, the boat containing the woman was one of several that attempted the crossing over the last few days. On June 19, according to a press statement from the prefecture (Prefecture maritime Manche et mer du Nord), two migrants were helped from a boat after it had departed the French coast and brought back to Boulogne.
On June 20, two boats were detected by French authorities. After distress calls, French authorities took 60 people off one of the boats, and six people from another smaller boat that had left Boulogne. A further boat was detected in the area of Wissant, south of Calais and north of Boulogne. The migrants on board, say the French authorities were "determined" to continue their journey to the UK. A French boat followed them and distributed life jackets to those on board an accompanied them at a distance until they reached British waters. At that point, the French authorities say, the woman was discovered and although attempts to resuscitate her, it wasn't possible and she was pronounced dead by the Britsh authorities.
According to British government data, a total of 94 migrants crossed the Channel on June 20 on one boat. There were no reports of calls for assistance or distress during the crossing.
Utopia 56, a French humanitarian organization, posted on X that the passenger who had perished was female. The organization used their announcement to underline that perhaps her death could have been avoided if "the possibility of safe passage" was more available.
Cross-country deal to curb small boat arrivals
In late April, France and the UK renewed a three-year deal designed to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel irregularly. The extension, with a reported price tag of 766 million euros, carries conditional additional financing that will be paid if France meets an agreed threshold of success. The agreement sees France increasing its border patrols by more than half and deploying an estimated 1,400 officers to the French beaches and coastlines that are popular departure points for irregular crossings to the UK via the English Channel.
Data released by French authorities indicate that nearly two-thirds of all attempts to cross the English Channel in small boats to reach British shores were interrupted during the month of May.
Read AlsoFrench police say they stopped two thirds of small boats bound for UK in May
Dangerous crossing
UK Home Office data indicates that there were 892 people who arrived irregularly from June 18-20 on small boats.
The British authorities define a small boat as a small vessel that is typically a dinghy or kayak used by people to enter the UK irregularly. This pertains to people who do not have the proper travel authority such as a visa or similar documents to enter the country.
Small boats are not seaworthy for crossing the English Channel, a notorious maritime passage way that is marked as treacherous because of the powerful Atlantic tidal currents, shifting sandbanks, and frigid temperatures.
Data compiled by the UK-based thinktank Migration Observatory, based at Oxford University, show that around 36,000 people arrived by small boat in the year ending 31 May 2026, 13 percent less than in the same period the year before. In 2025, at least 29 people died trying to cross the English Channel.
Read AlsoAt least four migrants die in Channel crossing attempt