Two women die during failed Channel crossing attempt
According to French officials, two women died trying to cross the English Channel on Saturday morning. Authorities say the incident occurred overnight off the coast of northern France, where about 100 people set off by a makeshift boat to try to reach the United Kingdom. According to French official Isabelle Fradin-Thirode, six people from the attempt were rescued and are "now being cared for by civil protection. According to her, a couple and their child were rushed to a hospital in Boulogne after they were suffering from moderate hypothermia.
According to French newspaper La Voix Du Nord, the two people who died were both Somali women. In the Pas-de-Calais area, the overnight event occurred south of Neufchâtel-Hardelot's beaches. So far this year, at least 25 people have died trying to make the dangerous crossing in small boats.
AFP reported on Friday that its team in the Gravelines area in northern France saw hundreds
of migrants, with some preparing to cross the channel from the beaches as soon as the weather was favorable. Earlier this month, three people died - likely in a crush on the bottom of a packed boat - off the coast of Calais during another attempted crossing. According to incidents logged by the French coastguard, 50 people died while crossing the Channel last year. So far in 2025, more than 30,000 people have crossed the UK in small boats, and more than 100,000 have crossed since Labour came to power in July 2024. The number of small boats crossing into the UK and asylum seeker applications has increased, putting the UK government under increasing strain. Last week, France and the United Kingdom signed a one in, one out
returns agreement, which was intended to discourage boats from crossing the Channel. It suggests that each migrant returns to France, another migrantic who had not attempted a Channel crossing but with a solid argument for asylum in Britain, a new migrantian will come the other way. Sir Keir Starmer has previously described the crossings as completely ineffective,
and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has reported that the vile
people smugglers behind them are "wreaking ha
