Four people die trying to cross Channel in small boats

Four people died trying to cross the Channel in small boats overnight, French officials have said.

One man died after a vessel capsized off France's northern coast late on Wednesday, with a one-year-old child among those injured.

Separately, three people were found dead aboard a small boat early on Thursday after launching from Dunkirk overnight, some 100km (62 miles) up the coast.

French officials confirmed their deaths after several hundred people crossed the Channel into the UK on Wednesday.

The first boat capsized off the coast at Hardelot around 23:30 local time (21:30 GMT) on Wednesday.

The man is thought to have been in his thirties or forties, officials added. Six other people including the child sustained minor injuries.

Local officials said the vessel was a "taxi" boat - vessels which cruise along the coast and pick up their paying customers who are waiting in the sea.

Security officials "neutralised" the boat and an investigation into the incident has been launched.

The second boat launched from the Dunkirk area overnight and was spotted near a breakwater off the coast at 06:00, the French coastguard said.

Search and rescue officials subsequently found three unconscious people on board. Their deaths were later confirmed by emergency medical personnel.

A UK government spokesperson said: "Every death in the Channel is a tragedy and a stark reminder of the dangers posed by criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people for profit."

A total of 162 people died in the English Channel between 2018 and 2025, according to the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory.

Small-boat crossings have become the most common way for people to be detected entering the UK illegally since 2020.

According to Home Office figures, more than 13,000 arrivals have been recorded so far this year.

This is 45% lower than the number recorded by this time last year and down 18% on the same period in 2024.

A record 165 migrants reached the UK in a single boat last week. Border Security Command was pictured towing a mega dinghy - estimated to be the same size as a standard bus at 13m (42ft) long - when it arrived in Dover on 23 July.

The Home Office has said its new £662m deal with France, signed in April, curbed dangerous crossings by "boosting enforcement action on beaches".