Britain and France have signed a new three-year deal on security operations to stop crossings – Copyright AFP/File Sameer Al-DOUMY
Bernard Barron with Anne Roland in Lille
Two young Sudanese women appear to have drowned on Sunday as they tried to reach Britain from northern France in a small boat packed with more than 80 people, including pregnant women and children, officials said.
This was the third such tragedy in just over a month.
The women, aged in their 20s, were on board a small boat with 82 people that headed out to sea south of the town of Neufchatel-Hardelot, Christophe Marx, a local government official, told reporters. Officials believe the two victims are of Sudanese origin.
Separately, Utopia 56, an immigrant aid association, described the two victims as a 16-year-old child and a 20-year-old woman. Another victim – a pregnant woman – was in critical condition, the group said.
“We cannot see the end of this story. Nobody has the real solutions. And it is tragic,” Paulette Juilien-Peuvion, mayor of Neufchatel-Hardelot, told AFP.
She said she was sad to see “these young people trying to get away”.
“There were obviously pregnant mothers among them. I heard of a pregnant mother who also had another child with her,” she said.
The boat went out to sea south of Neufchatel-Hardelot, about 12 kilometers (seven miles) south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, overnight from Saturday to Sunday.
But “the engine wouldn’t start” and the ship started moving, Marks said.
Seventeen people were rescued at sea and taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The boat with the remaining 65 people on board eventually washed up on a beach near Neufchatel-Hardelot, he said, adding that the two women were found “dead inside the boat”.
“They did not drown,” he said, indicating that the two most likely died of “drowning, as unfortunately often happens.”
The mayor of Neufchatel-Hardelot said the two women suffered cardiac arrest, suggesting they may have been “squeezed to the bottom of the boat when there were so many on board”.
‘Politics are killing’
Three others suffered chemical burns “due to the mixture of fuel and seawater”, the prefecture said.
Fourteen other people had minor injuries and five of them were taken to hospital, officials said, citing updated figures.
They were “being processed and will be interviewed by border police to determine who is responsible for this crossing,” Marx said.
An investigation has been launched.
Utopia 56 said the “repressive” policies of the French and British governments were behind the latest tragedy.
“Repressive policies on the Franco-British border are killing,” the group said at X. “These lives lost are the result of political choices.”
“It is urgent to put an end to this deadly situation: open borders, establish safe crossing routes and charter ferries.”
On April 1, two migrants died off the coast of Gravelines in northern France while trying to reach the United Kingdom.
On April 9, two men and two women died near the village of Equihen-Plage, swept away by the currents.
In 2025, at least 29 migrants died at sea in the region, according to an AFP report based on official French and British sources.
Last month, Britain and France signed a new three-year deal to stop undocumented migrants from making the dangerous journey across the Channel in small boats.
Under the agreement, France pledged to increase its coastal law enforcement personnel by more than half, to 1,400 officers by 2029.
According to French officials, the number of arrivals to Britain so far this year has fallen drastically from 2025.
According to British figures, 41,472 people arrived in the UK illegally in small boats in 2025, the second highest figure since large-scale crossings were first discovered in 2018.
