Four migrants drown in English Channel

French maritime police say people were seen falling into the sea

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel earlier this month. PA

Four migrants drowned overnight in the English Channel off France's northern coast while trying to cross to Britain, French maritime police said on Friday.

A navy patrol boat went to the site after being alerted that several migrants had fallen into the sea off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer at around 4.30am while attempting to make the crossing.

Four people winched out of the water by helicopter were dead, police said. Another 63 were rescued in an operation involving four ships and one helicopter.

A French coastguard spokesman said its services were still collecting information about the incident and he could not comment further.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on X: “The further loss of life in the Channel this morning is truly awful. My thoughts are with all those affected.

“Criminal gangs are making vast profit from putting lives at risk.

“We are accelerating action with international partners to pursue and bring down dangerous smuggler gangs.”

An HM Coastguard spokesman said assistance was offered to the French coastguard on Friday, adding: "An RNLI lifeboat from Dover and Border Force vessel were initially sent to provide support, but were not required to attend the scene."

Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said this morning's loss of life in the Channel highlights "the scale of the challenge" facing the new Government and called for safe routes to be opened to stop people taking "deadly risks".

He added: "There are no quick fixes but over time, with the right combination of policies, it is possible to stop these tragic deaths. We stand ready to support our new government in this."

More than 14,000 people have arrived in Britain this year via small, overloaded boats – usually flimsy inflatable dinghies – that risk being lashed by the waves as they try to reach UK shores.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned this week that the number of migrants crossing the Channel to the UK “can’t be changed overnight”.

Home Office figures show 419 people made the journey in six boats on Tuesday, suggesting an average of around 70 people per boat, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 14,058.

This is 10 per cent higher than the number recorded this time last year (12,772) and up 6 per cent on the same period in 2022 (13,318), according to PA news agency analysis of government data.

Net migration – the difference between the number of people legally arriving in the UK and leaving – hit 685,000 last year.

Migrants attempt to cross the Channel from France – in pictures

Earlier this week, Middle East envoy and former Labour prime minister Tony Blair urged Keir Starmer to formulate a “plan to control immigration”, warning of the threat from the UK's right-wing parties.

Mr Starmer has axed the multimillion-pound stalled plan to send migrants to Rwanda and plans to use the money to pay for a new security border command.

He said the unit will be staffed with “hundreds of new specialist investigators”, vowing to “use counterterror powers to smash criminal boat gangs” in a bid to curb Channel crossings.

On Wednesday, police said a man had been arrested as part of an investigation into the small boat crossings.

The 25-year-old Iraqi national is suspected of being involved in planning the movement of migrants across Europe and into northern France, with the UK as an end destination, a spokesman for the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.