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Two people die as migrants try to cross English Channel

Two people have died after falling unconscious on a boat trying to cross the English Channel, the French coastguard has said.

An emergency operation was launched to help the two people and 10 others who also needed assistance.

They were among nearly 80 migrants making the overnight crossing on a boat which left the shore from Gravelines, near Calais, in northern France, according to the coastguard.

Rescuers from a French Navy vessel set out to reach the boat and performed first aid on the two people, but a medical team later confirmed their deaths.

The bodies and those rescued were taken to Calais.

The remaining migrants on the boat were allowed to continue their journey towards British waters under the surveillance of the French Navy.

Pictures show migrants wrapped in blankets disembarking from a Border Force boat in Dover, Kent, on Wednesday morning.

Others were also brought to shore in an RNLI lifeboat.

The deaths came just days after another person was confirmed dead when a small boat sank in the Channel.

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French officials said on Monday that 62 people were pulled from the water after the "overloaded" boat broke up overnight.

More than 12,500 people have made the journey across the Channel and arrived in the UK so far in 2025 - a record number for this point in the calendar year since data was first collected in 2018.

Sky News

(c) Sky News 2025: Two people die as migrants try to cross English Channel

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