Three dead after migrant boat ‘with 50 on board’ sinks in Channel
Three people have died after an inflatable boat carrying migrants sank in the Channel, French maritime authorities said.
The incident happened this morning off the coast of Sangatte, close to Calais.
Around 50 migrants are understood to have fallen into the water shortly after 8am around 2km from the shoreline near Calais.
The incident happened around 2km from the shoreline at Sangatte
At least 45 people were rescued but French authorities are continuing to search for others still in the water.
The UK Border Force also confirmed it “is actively engaged in a search and rescue operation”.
Two of the victims were provided with first aid after being rescued from the water but were pronounced dead by medics when taken to Calais.
The rescue operation was launched after a life jacket was spotted in the water.
The overloading of flimsy boats used in crossing attempts sometimes causes them to collapse, rip open and sink. Inflatables that are built to carry no more than 20 people often attempt the voyage with three times that many aboard, French maritime authorities said.
The public prosecutor’s office in nearby Boulogne-sur-Mer has launched an investigation into the incident.
The rescue operation prompted a temporary halt to some of the commercial ferry services on the busy route between ports in northern France and the southern coast of the UK. Services from Dover to Calais were affected with delays of up to 120 minutes due to the rescue operation.
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This year has been the deadliest ever for Channel crossings, with more than 50 people known to have been killed so far. Many drowned, while others suffocated in the crush of so many people being piled into small, cramped boats.
Last week, a baby girl died after she “slipped” from her father’s hand when the dinghy they were in capsized.
Four migrants, including a two-year-old child, also died earlier this month in two separate incidents in similar crossing attempts. Last month, at least 20 migrants died in several shipwrecks in the Channel.
Home Office figures suggest more than 28,000 people have reached the UK via Channel crossings in 2024.
The number of arrivals is 8% higher than the same point in 2023, 26,116, and 25% lower than the 2022 of 37,603.
Wanda Wyporska, chief executive at refugee charity Safe Passage International, said of the Channel deaths this year: “We cannot normalise or accept this.
“This government must open safe routes urgently. Without them, the smugglers will continue to exploit the lack of safe alternatives for people fleeing war and persecution.
“We fear we will only see more people dying in their attempts to reach protection here.”
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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