People smugglers cram more migrants onto overcrowded boats to avoid extra patrols

People-smuggling gangs are increasingly cramming migrants into small boats that cross the Channel in an attempt to evade police patrols and increase their profits, aid agencies and officials have warned.

According to the French coast guard, more people are dying from being crushed on board overcrowded ships than from drowning during the perilous crossing.

Although the number of boats leaving northern France decreased, there was a “significant increase in the number of people on board”, the authority said.

“There are currently an average of almost 50 people present, with regularly more than 70 or 80 people,” said a spokesperson.

“In recent months, a phenomenon occurred that we had not observed before: during at least three rescue operations, unconscious people were immediately pulled from the boats.

“They unfortunately died at sea, but not by drowning, but by disease or oppression on board the boats.”

The Coast Guard attributed the increase in the number of people on the boats to smugglers looking to increase their profit margins.

Since the beginning of the year, the organization says it has coordinated nearly 420 operations on migrant boats, involving almost 22,300 people.

Of these, more than 4,100 have been returned to France. There are 20 dead and two people missing at sea, the organization said.

Two people died and 53 people were rescued on Sunday after a boat got into trouble, authorities said.

That day, 703 migrants were detected crossing the Channel, the highest single-day figure since Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister, and the third-highest daily figure so far this year.

Aid workers in Calais also reported increasing overcrowding on board the ships, which they say is partly due to smugglers trying to avoid the increased police presence on the coast.

Call logs from the humanitarian helpline Utopia56 show that the average number of migrants per boat has increased.

In the first seven months of this year, the number of migrants by boat was recorded at 55, compared to 45 in the same period in 2023, according to the data in which migrants shared the estimated number of people on board their boats.

According to Utopia, smugglers are increasingly overloading the ships to avoid intensive police checks along the French coast, which are partly funded by the British government.

“The numbers are definitely going up,” says Axel Gaudinat, the coordinator of Utopia56 in Calais. “Yesterday the average per boat was 63 people per boat, while in 2021 it was 27 people.”

Mr Gaudinat said the increase in overcrowding was partly due to the “militarisation of the coast”, with increased police patrols and a tougher approach to boat supply lines being introduced in conjunction with the British government.

“There are fewer and fewer boats reaching northern France, while there are still just as many people willing to cross,” he said.

Mr Gaudinat said that if a boat was stopped, people would try to board another boat that had left at the same time and location, doubling the number of people planned to be on board.

“It shows that no matter how many police you put (on patrol), networks and people themselves will adapt. It is not a good strategy to think that if you have more officers, there will be fewer attempts, it only increases the risk.”

Care4Calais, a humanitarian organisation active in northern France, also said there were anecdotes indicating that the number of people crammed into each boat was increasing.

Imogen Hardman, head of field operations for the charity, said the “focus on safety measures” from the UK and France was “costing lives”.

“The more the two governments invest in security, the greater the risks people will take in coming to the UK,” she said.

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“The only way to stop crossings and save lives is to create safe routes for refugees to claim asylum in the UK. Until safe routes are opened, lives will continue to be lost.”

Eleven boats were detected on Sunday, which equates to an average of 64 people per boat.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which undermine border security and endanger lives.

“The new Government is taking steps to improve our border security by establishing a new Border Security Command that will bring together our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terrorism powers and hundreds of staff based in the UK and abroad to help defeat criminal smuggling gangs that are making millions in profits.”