Syrian migrant turns into first migrant to die in English Channel in 2025 after being ‘crushed to loss of life’ in an overcrowded small boat
A Syrian today became the first UK-bound migrant of the new year to die in the English Channel after being ‘crushed to death’ in an overcrowded small boat.
The unnamed man, who was in his 20s, was in a flimsy dinghy that was launched in the early hours of Saturday from a beach near Calais.
It was full of asylum seekers heading from France to England, but began to collapse in freezing cold seas and so turned back.
‘The boat set off from Sangatte beach,’ said a spokesman for France’s Maritime Prefecture.
‘But a few minutes later, it returned and the group disembarked from the soaking wet boat.
‘Among those rescued was a man in his twenties of Syrian nationality, but he suffered a cardiac arrest, probably after being crushed by the other migrants.’
Such horrific deaths have become common on a route that claimed 77 lives in 2024.
‘It is the first death as sea in such circumsances in 2025,’ said the prefecture spokesman.
A Syrian today became the first UK-bound migrant of the new year to die in the English Channel. Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, in August 2023
Pictured: Migrants sit onboard an inflatable boat before attempting to illegally cross the English Channel on July 18, 2024
The unnamed man, who was in his 20s, was in a flimsy dinghy. Pictured: A group of Migrants seen leaving Calais in 2023
He said around 30 people were taken off the boat in all, despite it being designed for a maximum of 12.
Four others, including a 15-year-boy, were rushed to hospital, while the rest were treated at the scene for a variety of conditions, including hypothermia.
Two suspected people smugglers have already been arrested as part of an investigation opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor’s office.
On December 29th, four people died after 100 people tried to get on board a dinghy in exactly the same area.
Charity workers reported one group getting on board the boat at Sangatte, and then another appearing a few minutes later.
One said: ‘A boat was supposed to set off with sixty people on board, but a group of fifty additional people tried to get on the boat.
‘This created extreme panic, causing many to end up in the water. Following some people getting off the boat, it continued to England.’
People smugglers were seen before the boat set off, and it was likely that rival gangs tried to claim use of the same boat, said another witness.
In October, a two-year-old child was among four people who died after being trampled at the bottom of a boat.
Such horrific deaths have become common on a route that claimed 77 lives in 2024. Pictured: Dover, Kent, in 2023
Two suspected people smugglers have already been arrested as part of an investigation opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor’s office. Pictured: A border force vessel carrying migrants in 2023
Pictured: French police officers look at a body discovered near Calais on November 4, 2022
In April, a criminal enquiry was also launched following the deaths of five migrants including a little girl around nearby Wimereux.
The worst tradgedy of this kind came in November 2021, when 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank while heading to the UK – the highest recorded number of deaths from a single incident.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said of the tragedies: ‘Our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organising these crossings of death.’
Because of adverse weather conditions, only 61 migrants arrived in the UK on small boats between January 1st and 10th this year, according to UK Home Office figures.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have pledged to ‘strengthen cooperation’ to fight the people smugglers.
According to Downing Street, the small boat crossings were discussed during their meeting at Chequers, the PM’s country residence, on Thursday.
