Two migrants reported dead and one missing in English Channel crossing as new UK-France small boats deal stalls
Search and rescue efforts continue off the coast of France after two people died while trying to cross the English Channel.
The incident emerged just hours after the Home Secretary granted a last-minute two-month extension to a crucial coast patrol agreement.
Emergency services, including helicopters, were observed scanning the area, while French maritime authorities were seen rescuing people from the water.
french newspaper La Voix Du Nord reported that two immigrants died and one person was missing. The two dead were pulled from the sea and pronounced dead a short time later.
Another person was treated for hypothermia before being transported to a hospital in Dunkirk.
During the crossing attempt on Wednesday morning, approximately 50 immigrants, including children, were seen trying to board a small ship off the coast of Gravelines, France.
At least 12 French police officers were on the beach at the time.
The development follows Shabana Mahmood’s eleventh-hour decision on Tuesday to extend the existing arrangement, preventing the expiry of a nearly £500 million deal aimed at preventing departures from the Channel.
Operational contracts will continue to be funded at £16.2 million as the UK and France reach a longer-term agreement.
A Home Office spokesman said Ms Mahmood had “driven a hard bargain” with Paris and had “gotten more bang for our buck”.
When the deal was announced in 2023, the then Conservative government said the £478 million package would fund a new detention center in France and hundreds of extra law enforcement officers off the coast of France.
The number of crossings increased in the following years; Some 41,472 people arrived in the UK on small boats in 2025 and Ms Mahmood is under pressure to reduce these numbers.
The Home Secretary was previously understood to be pushing for a new deal that would include performance-related clauses that would tie funding to the proportion of boats stopped by the French.
French government ministers have criticized Britain for making demands that put asylum seekers’ lives at risk.
According to Le Monde, France’s deputy naval officer, Xavier Ducept, told the French parliamentary commission of inquiry last week: “What we want… is for the British to fund very expensive wiretapping systems.
“But they should not make this financing conditional on efficiency, which would be extremely dangerous for immigrants, the (security) services and France. Rescue comes first. And the law.”
Some 4,441 people have arrived in the UK on small boats so far this year.
