Four migrants, two men and two women, died trying to board a boat near Équihen-Plage and Boulogne-sur-Mer on Thursday morning after being swept away by currents. According to sources and prosecutors, the boat involved continued its journey to the UK with about 30 people on board despite being damaged and low in the water. French police did not intervene to prevent the boat's departure during the incident, prosecutors and sources said.
In connection with the Thursday deaths, the National Crime Agency charged a Sudanese national, Alnour Mohamed Ali, 27, with endangering life, alleging he piloted the boat. According to major media reports, six migrants have died on the cross-Channel route so far this year. Two migrants, an Afghan and a Sudanese, died in a similar incident on April 1 near Gravelines and Dunkirk, according to major media sources.
Rescue services assisted eight people reported in distress as they attempted to board the boat, according to France's maritime prefecture for the Channel and North Sea. Major media reports indicate 38 people were returned to the French shore after the Thursday incident, and 74 migrants travelled on to the UK. French authorities also carried out several other rescue operations in the Channel that day, saving 111 additional people, according to research sources.
Two migrants died on Wednesday while attempting to cross the English Channel from northern France to Britain near Gravelines, according to French maritime authorities. French officials described the incident as the first reported deaths linked to Channel crossings in 2026. Police sources identified the deceased as one man from Sudan and one from Afghanistan.
Around 30 people had gathered early that morning near Gravelines, according to local reports. Many were standing in cold water up to their shoulders or slipping off the inflatable boat while it loaded more on board, local reports described. A woman received hospital treatment in Dunkirk for non-life-threatening injuries and five other individuals were detained, research sources indicate. German outlets cited local news source La Voix du Nord as reporting a search for one additional person believed to be missing. A French police sources cited by AFP said a Turkish national who was rescued after the fatal incident was arrested on suspicion of organizing the crossing attempt.
UK Home Office data released Wednesday recorded 4,441 arrivals in the first three months of 2026, 33 percent fewer than the 6,642 in early 2025 and 18 percent below the 5,435 in early 2024. The 2026 figure exceeds early 2023 levels by 17 percent but is two percent below early 2022, according to research sources. Authorities attribute part of the decline to unsettled weather conditions, including low temperatures, poor visibility, shorter daylight and storms. The number of people occupying a single boat has increased, averaging 63 people per crossing from January to March 2026 compared to 56 in early 2025 and 62 for all of 2025, research indicates.
UK authorities reported 41,472 small boat arrivals in 2025, the second highest annual figure after 45,774 in 2022. Research shows the number of small boat arrivals has increased substantially since 2018, with significant numbers not beginning to be detected until late 2018. From 2018 to 2025 inclusive, around 193,000 people were detected reaching the UK in small boats, according to research. The 2025 figure was 13 percent more than the year before and the second-highest annual figure. In 2022, about 46,000 people crossed the Channel in small boats, research indicates.
The majority of those arriving in small boats are men over the age of 18, around 76 percent of 2025 arrivals for whom this information was recorded, according to research. A further 12 percent of 2025 arrivals were children under 18, research shows. These demographic proportions have been relatively stable over time. One reason for the higher share of men is the danger associated with unauthorised migration, research suggests. In many cases, female and minor children join later through family reunification routes.
Most people who cross the Channel in small boats claim asylum once they are in the UK, research indicates. In 2025, 99 percent of all those crossing either applied for asylum or were named as a dependant on an application. Small boat arrivals made up 41 percent of all people applying for asylum in the UK in 2025, a similar share to the preceding four years. The total number of people claiming asylum in the UK has increased sharply since 2020, reaching 101,000 in 2025, close to the record level of 2024, according to research. Only part of this growth is explained by people crossing the Channel by small boat.
A large proportion of asylum seekers, 39 percent of those applying in 2025, travelled to the UK legally on a work, study, visitor, or other visa, research shows. Some people also enter the UK through other unauthorised means, such as in lorries or containers. The increase in small boat crossings means that overall unauthorised arrivals have risen. Small boats have accounted for more than 80 percent of detected unauthorised arrivals in recent years. A higher share of boat arrivals are detected compared to other irregular arrivals.
From 2018 to 2025, nationals of six countries accounted for 65 percent of all small boat arrivals: Iran (16 percent), Afghanistan (14 percent), Iraq (10 percent), Eritrea (10 percent), Albania (8 percent), and Syria (8 percent), according to research. Eritrea was the top country of origin for small boat arrivals in 2025. The NCA report said 2025 saw the Horn of Africa emerge as the main source of migrants, replacing previous peaks of Vietnam and Albania. It was almost certainly driven by a combination of push factors from source countries, such as conflict and political instability and secondary migration from mainland Europe, the NCA report stated.
People from Iran made up 11 percent of last year's Channel crossings, according to major media reports. Iranians were the most common nationality among asylum seekers to the UK over the past decade, according to Oxford University's migration observatory. Migrants fleeing war in Iran have arrived in France to cross the Channel to the UK, with many more expected to follow, migrants said. The EU Agency for Asylum warned that conflict in Iran could produce an influx of migrants of unprecedented magnitude.
French authorities have rejected proposals for British Border Force vessels to patrol French waters and intercept boats, according to reports. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a two-month extension to the UK-France border security deal, worth £16.2 million, major media sources report. It is estimated that 1,800 officers patrol the coast of northern France, a security effort partly funded by Britain, according to regular observers. Britain is paying France about £480 million under a three-year deal ending in 2026, research indicates. The incident came a day after France and the UK agreed to extend their Channel migration deal by two months while negotiating a longer-term arrangement, research sources note.
The UK Border Security Command leased four new 'rescue' catamarans to intercept migrants, according to major media reports. Endangering life during a sea journey to the UK is a new offence introduced earlier this year, the Home Office said.
People-smuggling gangs, dominated by Iraqi-Kurdish groups, are brazenly operating complex networks across Europe, according to investigations and the National Crime Agency. Smugglers are using 'taxi boats'—small motorized boats that pick up migrants from beaches—to avoid police detection, authorities report. Graeme Biggar, director general of the NCA, said smugglers had also changed tactics to evade enforcement action.
Last year the BBC reported how some smuggling gangs had launched boats as far south as Dieppe to evade police crackdowns. In recent weeks there have been a number of launches further north in Belgium, away from the main launch sites in Calais and Dunkirk, research indicates. Following action at the border between Turkey and Bulgaria, criminals had been forced to use a much broader range of routes to transport boats and engines from, primarily, Turkey to the beaches of France, the agency said. The equipment used for small boat crossings is typically sourced from China and then assembled in Turkey, before being stored or transported, according to research.
Working with partners across Europe, the NCA seized 533 boats or engines in 2025, Graeme Biggar said.
Medecins Sans Frontiers warned that at least 130 people have died in the Channel crisis since 2018. An AFP tally of French and British official sources recorded at least 29 deaths on the Channel route in 2025. According to the IOM's Missing Migrants page, two other migrants have been reported dead during Channel crossing attempts so far this year, but remains of one body was found in an inland canal, before they reached the sea, and the other died on a road, while attempting to board a vehicle.
The length of the coastline used by migrants and refugees is roughly 70 miles, research shows. Stopping all the boats is impossible due to the size of the beaches and length of coastline, research indicates.
More than 5,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year, according to Home Office data and reports. The busiest day for small boat arrivals this year was February 26, with 605 reported crossings, the Home Office said. Approximately 2,200 additional people crossed the Channel in the first two months of 2026, similar to previous years, research indicates. French figures show nearly 50,000 people attempted the crossing from France in 795 boats last year.