At least 36 people died making the perilous journey from France to the UK in 2025, charities estimate, with an eight-year-old girl among the victims – amid calls to record all small boat deaths
Dozens of people, including an eight-year-old girl, died making the dangerous Channel crossing in 2025, harrowing data shows.
Charities estimate that at least 36 perished trying to reach the UK – with some groups saying the true figure is higher. Among the dead were a mum and daughter named as Kazaq Ezra, 40, and Agdad Hilmi, eight, who were crushed on a small boat in May.
The Mirror has worked with various agencies in the UK and France seeking to find the names of those who died. Neither country keeps a comprehensive record of the number of deaths or who the people are – meaning many are never known.
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Publishing names of the dead has been described as “the bare minimum in recognising their humanity”. Louise Calvey, director of Asylum Matters, said: “When our Government refuses to even record these tragedies, they send the disgusting message that the deaths of people seeking sanctuary don’t matter. They also refuse to acknowledge the deadly impact of their own policies.”
Among those identified was Natnael Tesfalem, 31, from Eritrea, who drowned on May 19. Awet Hagos Haile, a woman believed to be around 30 and also from Eritrea, died in March. Bilal Yildirim, from Turkey, was missing for more than 50 days before his body was recovered. Writing on a GoFundMe page to pay for Bilal’s funeral, friend Ozgur Gul described the vessel he boarded as “not safe to travel”.
In August a Somali woman, believed to be named Ayesha, drowned while boarding a boat in Dunkirk. Despite franctic efforts to save her, the 27-year-old died at the scene. Two more women from Somalia died the following month in similar circumstances.
Kuwaiti Jabr Al Ftah, 64, died from a heart attack while onboard a UK-bound small boat on March 8. Abdul Raheem Qasem, 24, from Yemen, was found dead on the beach of Salines in Sangatte on January 22 having attempted the crossing. And Suleiman Alhussein Abu Aeday, a Syrian exile in his early twenties, was the first recorded casualty of the year 11 days earlier.
Calais Migrant Solidarity said that in April an unnamed Eritrean woman, thought to be in her 30s, was buried in a Calais cemetery before her family could be found. She died while attempting to reach the UK by small boat.
The Missing Migrants Project estimates that 36 people died trying to reach the UK in 2025. These include 20 men, six women and one child, with the ages and genders of the others unknown.
In nine cases the cause of death is listed as drowning, but in many cases it is unclear.
Pressure is mounting on the Government to properly record the number of people who die during small boat crossings. Labour MP Nadia Whittome – who has called for Channel deaths to be officially recorded – told The Mirror: “It is an outrage that people are dying in the Channel as a direct result of our brutal migration and asylum system. Disturbingly, the true scale of these entirely preventable deaths remains hidden.”
She continued: “Counting and naming those who have lost their lives trying to reach our shores is not even the bare minimum in recognising their humanity.
“But it would also force us to confront the human cost of our border policies, and ultimately to do what is necessary to prevent these deaths: open safe and legal routes.”
Gunes Kalkan, head of campaigns at Safe Passage International said the Government must urgently expand legal routes to prevent people turning to people smugglers. He warned the decision to pause the family reunion routes for those given refugee status could have tragic consequences.
He said: “Every life lost on this dangerous journey is one too many. We fear this situation will only get worse, as the Government has recently shut down a vital pathway for children to reunite with parents, and is continuing to attack wider family reunion routes.
“This risks pushing more people, including vulnerable children, into the hands of smugglers to reach family here. People fleeing war and persecution need genuine alternatives to weaken the grip of smugglers, prevent family separation and save lives in the Channel.”
The Joint Council of the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) believes more than 40 people died in 2025 trying to reach the UK. Seema Syeda, from the charity, said: “All of these people could still be with us today if governments simply allow everyone, no matter why they are travelling, access to the same routes to travel to the UK.
“These deaths are not accidents. They are the result of violent borders built on colonisation and extraction. The same systems that stripped land, labour, and resources now decide who is allowed to move safely and who is forced into danger.
“We must stop investing billions of pounds of taxpayers money on border controls and the detention estate, instead putting that funding towards housing, NHS, and other key public services for everyone in our communities.”
And Ms Calvey said: “Every single one of these deaths is an appalling tragedy: a person with hopes and dreams and loved ones who might never even know what’s happened to them. They deserve their names to be known, their deaths mourned, and action taken in their memory to prevent anyone else being killed.”
She added: “The only way to stop the deaths is with safe routes.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “Every life lost at sea is a tragedy, which is why our efforts are focused on saving lives, as well as doing whatever it takes to protect our borders.
“The Home Secretary has set out the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times. These new reforms will restore order and control to our border, removing the incentives which draw people to the UK illegally and increasing removals of those with no right to be on British soil.”