Woman and girl, 16, killed on small boat in English Channel carrying 82 migrants

A woman and a 16-year-old girl lost their lives after a failed small boat crossing to the UK over the English Channel during the early hours of Sunday morning.

The deaths come just weeks after two men and two women drowned after being swept away by strong currents while trying to cross the Channel on April 9.

Two migrants also died in a similar crossing attempt a week earlier on April 1 – thought to be the first such deaths this year.

French authorities say the two victims, understood to be Sudanese, were travelling alongside 80 other people on a dinghy which set off from the coast at Neufchatel-Hardelot, near Calais, at around 1.30am.

The crowded vessel quickly lost all navigation due to technical problems and began drifting out to sea.

A complex rescue operation was launched and 17 injured people were taken aboard French rescue vessel The Minck, including three in a state of "absolute emergency" due to chemical burns caused by a mix of fuel and sea water.

The remaining 14 injured migrants were described as in "relative emergency" and five of the were hospitalised after The Minck landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer harbour at Pas-de-Calais, at 4am.

The dinghy itself was brought back to shore and the remaining migrants were assisted by emergency services and security forces.

The bodies of the two women were inside the vessel.

Secretary general of the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, Christophe Marx, gave a press conference this morning about the incident.

He told media that an investigation is under way to find out more about the victims' identities and what happened to them.

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An investigation into the incident was open by the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor’s office.

French authorities said in a statement: “All state services were mobilised to respond to this incident, with the involvement of the national gendarmerie, border police, aerial resources — including drones — the departmental fire and rescue service, as well as volunteers from Civil Protection, and resources co-ordinated by CROSS Gris-Nez under the authority of the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.

“Smuggling networks, driven by criminal motives and a total disregard for human life, continue to endanger vulnerable people by organising crossings in makeshift boats.

“The state maintains a firm response to these actions and, in co-ordination with the judicial authorities, continues its efforts to combat these networks.”
This brings the total number of arrivals so far this year to 6,796, which is a drop of 41 per cent compared to the same point last year (11,516) and 18 per cent down on 2024 (8,278), Press Association analysis shows.

Meanwhile it is 8 per cent higher than the 6,280 arrivals at the same point in 2023.