At least 5 die trying to cross English Channel

PARIS — At least five people died in icy waters off a beach in northern France early Sunday as they tried to traverse the English Channel to Britain, the latest in a string of tragedies in recent years that have underlined the inability of governments on both sides of the waterway to deter attempts of the perilous crossing.

The people were found dead near a beach in the town of Wimereux after their boat was “reported in difficulty nearby” around 1:45 a.m. and several passengers tried to reach the shore, French maritime authorities said in a statement.

More than 30 people were rescued, two of them in serious condition, the statement said. One person was found unconscious and was hospitalized, and another had “severe hypothermia,” the statement said. It added that the French coast guard had deployed several ships in the area “to continue investigations at sea and search for any people who are still adrift.”

French authorities did not identify the people who died or say where they were from, and they did not specify the causes of death. It was not immediately clear what kind of difficulty the boat was facing. Local prosecutors have opened an investigation.

The French maritime authorities said that crossing conditions had improved after several days of bad weather, but that the water temperature in the English Channel was about 9 degrees Celsius (about 48 degrees Fahrenheit). They also noted that the English Channel is one of the world’s busiest maritime routes, with more than 400 commercial ships per day.

“It’s a particularly dangerous sector, especially in the middle of winter, for precarious, overloaded boats,” the maritime authorities said.

A tugboat chartered by the French navy was unable to get very close to the migrant vessel Sunday because the waters were too shallow, but it deployed a rigid-inflatable boat that picked up several people at sea and dropped them off on the beach, the maritime authorities said. Other migrants were rescued directly by French security forces on land or were winched up by a navy helicopter, they added.

A dozen people died last year trying to cross the waterway, according to French maritime authorities. One of the highest death tolls in recent years came in 2021, when 27 people died after their boat capsized during a single crossing.