2 dead after boat runs aground in France in failed crossing to UK

A small boat carrying migrants trying to cross the English Channel ran aground on a beach in northern France, leaving two dead and 16 people injured, including three with serious burns, authorities said on Sunday.

The vessel, carrying 82 people, set out overnight from Hardelot beach, a few kilometres south of the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, but the engine failed and it began to drift, Christophe Marx, Secretary General of the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, told reporters.

A French maritime gendarmerie vessel rescued 17 people and brought them to Boulogne-sur-Mer, while the makeshift boat ran aground with 65 others still on board.

Two women were found dead, most likely from suffocation, Marx said. They are believed to have been “crushed or asphyxiated, as unfortunately often happens on boats … where too many people are packed in,” he said.

The women were believed to be in their 20s and to have come from Sudan, he said, adding that an investigation was under way. Three of the injured were in very serious condition with burns caused by fuel at the bottom of the boat, he added.

It was the third deadly incident involving migrants attempting the perilous crossing to the UK in just over a month.