28 September 2026 , 12:27
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Three people were killed after a boat capsized off the coast of northern France while attempting to cross the English Channel, according to French media.
Media understands that around 100 illegal migrants were thrown into the sea, with two women and a 10-year-old child being named as the tragic victims.
Two people were also said to be seriously injured.
The French coastguard is understood to have arrived quickly to rescue those in the water.
Increased security and heavily funded patrols around the traditional hubs of Calais and Dunkirk have forced people-smuggling gangs to dramatically alter their strategies.
Launch points now span over 100 kilometres of coastline, extending well beyond the narrowest stretch of the Dover Strait.
Rather than inflating a boat directly on a guarded beach, smugglers launch empty, high-capacity vessels from secluded river estuaries or distant shores.
These boats then skirt along the coastline like a "taxi", stopping briefly at designated beaches where migrants, secretly transported to the dunes by private hire vehicles, rush into the shallow water to board.
The rush to board a "taxi boat" or launch a vessel before French police can intervene triggers immense chaos on the shoreline.
To evade detection, smugglers are moving launches southwest into areas like Gravelines, Berck-sur-Mer, and the Seine-Maritime department, making the journey longer and more dangerous.
Earlier this month, a teenage asylum seeker was jailed for piloting a small boat carrying hundreds of illegal migrants across the Channel.
Chan Atak, 19, piloted the overcrowded, deflating 14-metre-long dinghy carrying 165 people.
It comes after more than 500 illegal migrants crossed the English Channel on Sunday.
Over 83,000 migrants have arrived in the UK via small boat crossings since the Labour Party took power in 2024.
So far in 2026, about 18,609 people have reached the UK by small boat.
Of that total, some 6,500 arrivals have occurred since Andy Burnham took office as Prime Minister.
Last week, Chris Philp accused Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood of having "no control of our borders" after a surge in crossings.
He told GB News: "Shabana Mahmood has got no control of the border whatsoever.
"The French Interior Minister Monsieur Nuñez admitted a couple of days ago that the French gendarmes that we pay for have orders to stand around doing nothing and not intervening."
The Shadow Home Secretary added: "I personally witnessed that just a few weeks ago on the beaches. They’re doing nothing to stop these boats."
Head of Investigations