Two migrants die and two are injured during Channel crossing attempt off Berck
Two men died and two women suffered chemical burns after an overloaded boat carrying around 80 migrants stalled off northern France near Berck-sur-Mer.
Overcrowded launch off Berck
French maritime rescue teams responded late on Sunday, 4 October, after an overloaded dinghy carrying migrants ran into severe difficulty off the coast of Berck-sur-Mer in northern France. Police officers on shore first observed the clandestine launch at approximately 22:00 local time, as a crowd of nearly 150 people gathered on the beach to attempt the passage to Great Britain. Between 80 and 90 passengers managed to board the craft, while approximately 20 individuals remained stranded in the shallow water after being pushed back by overcrowding. When maritime rescue teams reached the drifting boat, occupants were attempting to bail water out of the flooded hull using their shoes. Jean-Marc Lamblin, director of the French national sea rescue service (SNSM), described the conditions upon arrival to local media.
When we arrived, there were at least 80 people on board and a terrible smell of gasoline.
Fatalities and chemical injuries
Rescuers pulled two men from the water who had already suffered cardiorespiratory arrest during the launch. Firefighters and emergency medical personnel from the mobile intensive care service (SMUR) administered emergency treatment on the beach, but both men, aged approximately 35 and 45, were pronounced dead around midnight. Two women from Somalia, aged 20 and 26, suffered severe chemical burns across large parts of their bodies after spilled motor fuel mixed with seawater in the bottom of the boat. Both injured women were evacuated to the hospital in Rang-du-Fliers in relative emergency status, where one was also treated for respiratory distress. The public prosecutor's office in Boulogne-sur-Mer opened a formal investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the two deaths.
- Police spot an overcrowded migrant vessel departing the beach at Berck-sur-Mer
- SNSM rescuers arrive to find roughly 80 passengers aboard a flooded boat and two men in cardiac arrest
- Emergency teams on shore pronounce the two men dead and transport two burned women to Rang-du-Fliers hospital
Rising Channel crossing casualties
The incident off Berck-sur-Mer brings the number of recorded migrant fatalities at the Franco-British maritime border to at least 24 since the beginning of 2026. The deaths occurred one week after another fatal attempt on 28 September, when three migrants, including a ten-year-old child and two women, died aboard an overcrowded boat launched from Blériot-Plage near Calais. The estimated 20 individuals who could not board the boat at Berck walked back to the French coastline on Sunday night and refused assistance from emergency personnel. The prefect of Pas-de-Calais, François Xavier Lauch, publicly thanked the firefighters, maritime crews, and emergency responders for their intervention during the overnight operation.
Cross-Channel arrivals and protests
On the British side of the Channel, the UK Home Office reported that border teams brought 149 migrants ashore at Gosport, Hampshire, following a separate mid-Channel rescue operation conducted on Sunday. The landing drew a crowd of approximately 150 anti-migrant demonstrators to the waterfront, where protesters set off flares and engaged in physical scuffles with police lines. UK Home Office data indicates that 19,451 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats so far in 2026. This cumulative figure represents a 43% decrease compared to the same period in 2025 and remains 23% below the level recorded at this stage in 2024.
