Mourners pay tribute to the latest victims of the deadly Channel crossing

PARIS – Mourners paid their respects on Sunday to the last four victims of the deadly Channel crossing, after London said a record number of 973 made the journey on the same day they died.

About 150 people gathered in the French Channel port of Calais on Sunday evening to remember the two-year-old toddler, woman and two men who died this weekend.

On the ground in front of them was a long sheet with the names and nationalities of the dead, held by stones and candles.

Such ceremonies are regularly held there to commemorate the deaths of migrants who attempted the dangerous crossing.

With these latest deaths, French officials say, the Channel crossing toll has risen to 51 this year.

Another ceremony, organized by migrant rights groups, will take place in the Channel Port of Dunkirk on Monday evening.

A record number of 973 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats on Saturday, the same day the four migrants died, according to UK Home Office figures.

According to figures from the British Home Office, more than 26,600 migrants crossed the Channel on small boats in 2024.

The two-year-old boy and three adults died after overloaded boats ran into problems during the dangerous crossing, which is attempted by several thousand every year.

Saturday’s deaths were likely due to the victims being crushed in overloaded rubber boats, French prosecutors and local officials say.

Prosecutors said Sunday they had opened an investigation into the two separate incidents but have so far not identified those responsible.

“This new drama shows the need to fight ruthlessly against the networks of human traffickers that exploit human need,” French Prime Minister Michel Barnier wrote on X on Saturday.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Saturday it was “appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel.

“Criminal smuggling gangs continue to organize these dangerous boat crossings,” she wrote on X.

“The gangs don’t care whether people live or die – this is a terrible trade in lives.”

In Britain, Keir Starmer’s new Labor government has repeatedly promised to destroy “the gangs” of people smugglers who organize the dangerous journeys.

In France last week, Barnier presented plans for a stricter immigration policy, arguing that the country needed to better control its borders.