NEUFCHTEL HARD­ELOT: A migrant died on Wednesday as he tried to cross the Channel to Britain, French authorities said, bringing to 57 the number of deaths this year linked to crossings in overcrowded dinghies.

With British and French authorities seeking to crack down on people smuggling gangs, activists say traffickers are now herding larger groups of migrants hoping for a better life in the United Kingdom into increasingly unsafe boats.

The man who died was one of around 15 who fell into the sea off Hardelot in northern France, the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea said.

A helicopter transported the migrant to land where he was declared dead. Fire chief Baptiste Gournay said the man was 28 years old.

In total, 61 people were rescued, including one whose condition was very critical and another five also taken to hospital. Gournay said three other migrants were also battling for their lives after a second rescue operation off the area of Merlimont, some 20 kilometres to the south.

Many people had tried to cross overnight and in the early morning as weather conditions were good, the prefecture said. On Wednesday morning, a deflated blue and black dinghy lay on the beach in Hardelot, a journalist saw.

Rescue services, including fire trucks with their lights flashing, had been deployed on the shore. Rescuers led around 20 migrants into a nearby building to warm up.

Some three kilometres away from the coast, journalists saw six soaked migrants, some wrapped in survival blankets, sitting on a bench. A member of the Utopia 56 charity working with migrants said that several people were suffering from “severe hypothermia” after falling into the sea.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2024