A child and two women have died off the coast of northern France after an overcrowded boat ran into difficulties while attempting to cross the English Channel. French authorities said the victims appear to have been trampled to death. Small boat arrivals to the UK are currently at a seven-year low.
A 10-year-old boy and two women died on Monday (September 28) off the coast of northern France while trying to cross the English Channel to the United Kingdom, different news agencies and British media outlets reported on Monday citing French authorities.
105 people were on board the vessel, which departed from the French municipality of Sangatte around 5.15 am on Monday, the prefect of the French Pas-de-Calais department said during a press briefing according to InfoMigrants French. The passengers reportedly called for help around 8.00 am, when they were six kilometers offshore.
Sangatte is situated near Calais on the French Channel coast, some 35 kilometers from the British city of Dover.
According to a press release published Monday by the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea, the three victims received medical care on board but were later pronounced dead by an emergency medical team that arrived by helicopter.
According to news agencies AP and AFP, the two women are believed to be in their 30s and of Eritrean nationality. French officials reportedly noted that the child appeared to have been traveling with his mother and siblings.
Nine other people required medical treatment, the prefect reportedly said at the aforementioned press briefing.
The 105 survivors were taken aboard a French maritime rescue vessel dispatched to the scene, according to the press release. The prefecture reportedly said that the vessel had not sunk.
Later that morning, the survivors reportedly disembarked from the rescue vessel in Calais. An AFP correspondent at the scene reported seeing several people, including children, wrapped in emergency blankets, with some being moved on stretchers and in wheelchairs.
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Death from trampling
The victims are believed to have been trampled to death in a stampede on board the heavily overcrowded boat.
"According to initial findings of the investigation, it appears that the deaths were caused by a stampede," InfoMigrants French reported citing a press release by the prefecture. "The precise circumstances of the tragedy will, however, need to be established by the judicial investigation," it added.
Three other bodies were reportedly found last week following chaotic small boat departures in northern France.
These inflatable vessels, often referred to as 'taxi boats', routinely approach beaches from shallow waters near the beach to allow migrants to wade into the sea and climb aboard.
Estimates about the number of deaths on this and any route tend to vary and are difficult to ascertain, since not all departures are known about or monitored. The regional government says it has counted 20 deaths of would-be migrants so far this year -- mostly from drownings and other causes during attempted crossings of the Channel but also including others killed in traffic accidents, news agencies AP and AFP reported. That compares to 21 killed during the same period last year.
According to an AFP tally, at least 22 people have died attempting the crossing this year, compared to 29 in 2025. The UN Migration Agency Missing Migrants project already counted 21 deaths on the Channel route, including those killed while trying to board trains, or vehicles, as well as some who died or were killed while waiting in makeshift camps in the French coastal region. This additional three deaths would bring the tally so far this year to at least 24, if not more than 25 because it is not clear whether last week's tallies had already included the latest reported deaths.
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Decrease in arrivals, asylum requests
In April, the French and UK governments signed a new multimillion-euro deal aimed at reducing the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats, with increased police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France.
France has long been a springboard for migrants hoping to reach Britain. Migrants often pay smugglers thousands of euros to board dangerous, heavily overcrowded inflatable dinghies across one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
The aforementioned prefect reportedly warned during the press release of the risks during autumn as weather and sea conditions deteriorate, with cooler temperatures and storms expected: "It is during these times that crossings are the most dangerous."
The arrival of tens of thousands of asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats each year has become a flashpoint in British politics, heavily leveraged by right-wing groups to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment.
While a daily record of 781 people arrived last Wednesday (September 23) in ten boats, total arrivals so far in 2026 stand at around 19,135 -- down 42 percent compared to the same period last year and currently at a seven-year low, as InfoMigrants reported at the beginning of September.
Similarly, the number of asylum requests has also been decreasing: Last year, just over 100,000 people claimed asylum in the UK, down slightly from the previous year, according to Home Office data released last week.
Of those, just over 40 percent -- 41,262 people -- arrived in the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats, Reuters reported. Almost as many reportedly entered the country on another type of visa before later applying for asylum.
with AP, AFP, Reuters