French ships and a ferry recover bodies of 3 migrants in latest failed crossing of English Channel

French rescue vessels and a passenger ferry pulled the bodies of three migrants from the English Channel on Wednesday, pushing the count so far this year of dead and missing in the busy waterway’s French side to above 50.

French maritime authorities said 45 other people were rescued after their failed attempt to cross the treacherous waterway between France and England aboard a heavily overloaded inflatable boat that foundered off the northern French port of Calais.

The maritime prefecture that oversees French waters in the Channel said this year is proving to be the deadliest for migrants’ crossing attempts aboard small boats since they started surging in 2018.

Before the latest incident, the prefecture had counted 49 migrants dead or missing at sea so far in 2024. It said Wednesday’s deaths pushed its total to 52. That compares to 16 dead or missing last year, five deaths in 2022, and 35 dead or missing in 2021, which had been the deadliest year for attempted crossings until 2024, the prefecture said.

Wednesday’s rescue off Calais was launched after a life vest was found at sea, and it prompted a temporary halt to some of the commercial ferry services that ply routes between ports in northern France and the southern coast of the U.K., the prefecture said.

A passenger ferry spotted and recovered one of the three dead from the water, it said. It said the man was unconscious when brought aboard and was evacuated on a French navy helicopter to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

Two French rescue vessels dispatched to the area picked up another 47 people from the waters. Of those, two were unresponsive, the prefecture said. Attempts were made to revive them but their deaths were confirmed back on land in Calais, the prefecture said.

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, and sometimes more, the prefecture said.

A baby died and 65 people had to be rescued in another failed crossing attempt on an overloaded boat that sank last week.

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.