One man dies after Channel crossing rescue

An overloaded dinghy carries migrants across the Channel (file photo)

One man has died while attempting to cross the English Channel from France, bringing the total number of migrants who have lost their lives making the journey this year to at least 58.

French authorities said around 15 people were rescued after they fell into the sea off the coast of the Calais region on Wednesday morning.

The man was declared dead after the group was brought back to shore by lifeboat and helicopter.

This is believed to be the sixth fatality in the past two weeks, in what is already the deadliest year on record for Channel crossings.

Refugee charities have said deaths have become "appallingly regular" and they should not be accepted or normalised.

The man who died was believed to be a father travelling with friends, according to the Utopia 56 organisation, which supports displaced migrants at the French border.

Fire chief Baptiste Gournay said the man was 28 years old, according to the AFP news agency.

Utopia 56 group co-ordinator Angele Vettorello said she saw men, women and children trying to swim back to shore at the scene of the rescue on Wednesday.

Many were treated for hypothermia on the beach, she added.

Figures produced by the UN show 2024 has been the deadliest on record for migrant crossings in the Channel.

This latest fatality comes just days after an Indian man died when a migrant boat deflated shortly after it left the coast at Tardinghen, near Calais, on Sunday.

Prior to that, three people died when a small boat carrying migrants sank in the Channel, and a four-month-old baby died when another migrant boat sank off the coast of northern France.

The bodies of three men were also discovered on French beaches on Wednesday morning, AFP reports. It was not immediately clear who they were or whether they were trying to cross the Channel when they died.

Border Force vessels brought a number of people wearing life jackets ashore in Dover on Wednesday, as crossings continued amid favourable conditions at sea. No crossings took place on Monday or Tuesday.

The latest UK Home Office provisional figures show the number of migrants who arrived in small boats so far this year has already surpassed 2023's total.

As of Sunday, there had been 29,867 in 2024, compared to 29,437 across all of 2023.

With more boats continuing to arrive in the UK, this year's total is now believed to exceed 30,000. That is lower than the record of 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

The Home Office has pledged to "stop at nothing" to dismantle people-smuggling gangs that organise small boat crossings.

A spokesman said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

"The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay."

A recent undercover BBC investigation exposed a group of people-smugglers in Germany who were charging €15,000 (£12,500) for a Channel crossing "package".

The package included an inflatable dinghy and 60 life jackets, which the smugglers said they stored in secret warehouses to hide them from the German police.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of charity Refugee Council, has said it was "vital" that the government did "everything possible" to ensure refugees no longer need to put their lives in danger.

He added: "We must not forget that those making the perilous journeys across the Channel are desperate men, women and children fleeing persecution and war, in countries such as Afghanistan and Sudan, simply seeking safety and a future free from fear."