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Getty ImagesTwo men have died after trying to cross the English Channel off the coast of Berck in northern France.
According to local media, police saw migrants leaving the beach on a boat at about 22:00 local time on Sunday, and when rescuers arrived, they were bailing water out of the overloaded vessel with their shoes.
“When we arrived, there were at least 80 people on board and a terrible smell of gasoline,”Jean-Marc Lamblin, director of the French national sea rescue service (SNSM) told La Voix du Nord newspaper.
Two women were taken to hospital after suffering burns that were caused by the mixture of gasoline in the seawater. Their condition has been described as not life-threatening.
Lamblin told the newspaper that there were so many people on the boat, including children, that about 20 people were left stranded in the water because they could not get on board.
He explained that when SNSM arrived, the two men, aged in their 30s and 40s, were in cardiac arrest.
The men and injured women were brought back to shore where firefighters and paramedics helped them, but the men died at about midnight.
Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of their death.
The two women were from Somalia and aged 20 and 26, La Voix du Nord reported, adding that they are now recovering in Rang-du-Fliers hospital.
Separately, the UK Home Office said 149 migrants were picked up on Sunday in a mid-Channel rescue operation and were brought to Gosport, in Hampshire.
About 150 anti-migrant demonstrators had gathered at the south coast town to stop the group being brought ashore, with flares being set off and some scuffles with police.
Figures from the UK Home Office have recorded 19,451 people crossing the Channel in small boats this year.
The number is 43% lower than at the same time last year and 23% below the figure at this stage in 2024.
