A man’s body was recovered from the English Channel near the northern French port city of Calais on Monday, prosecutors said, a day after three migrants died trying to reach Britain.
“The victim is a black man in his 30s, who has not yet been identified,” said Patrick Leleu, deputy prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
He added that a passer-by had seen the “well-preserved” body in the water off Sangatte beach, west of Calais, so “the question arises of a link to this weekend’s successful crossing.”
The remains were found just over 500 meters from the site of Sunday’s deadly crash, Sangatte Mayor Guy Allemand said.
At least three died as a ship left for Britain early in the morning, bringing the death toll for 2024 to 76.
Several groups of people had tried to board an already loaded inflatable “small boat”, according to the prefect of Pas de Calais, Jacques Billant.
The jostling and “panic movement” that followed left about 40 people in the water, as the overloaded ship continued its journey.
Three adult men were pronounced dead after being recovered by a navy helicopter just a few dozen meters from the shore.
A group of people believed to be migrants are taken to Dover, Kent, by the RNLI Dover lifeboat following an incident with a small boat in the English Channel on December 29.
Migrants board a smugglers’ inflatable boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, at Bleriot beach in Sangatte, near Calais, northern France, on October 30, 2024.
The remains were found just over 500 meters (1,650 feet) from the site of Sunday’s deadly crash, Sangatte Mayor Guy Allemand said.
Along with these three men, it is feared that a child has disappeared at sea.
A large-scale rescue operation was launched on a beach in Sangatte, northern France, after the first alert was lifted at around 6.15am on Sunday.
A large number of firefighters and law enforcement officers were deployed to the Tom Souville base.
Authorities warned the death toll could rise as prosecutors in Boulogne-sur-Mer conduct investigations and judicial police try to locate those who provided the boats.
About 50 migrants were taken in by the French humanitarian charity Utopia 56, and firefighters are treating ten people with severe hypothermia. Four people were taken to the hospital.
Three unconscious people were pulled from the water but could not be revived, despite the efforts of medical teams.
Many survivors claimed to have seen a child fall into the sea and by Sunday afternoon there was no sign of the missing person.
Célestin Pichaud, coordinator of refugee charity Utopia 56, said: “People at the scene immediately told us that a child had fallen into the water, but we had no information that a child had been found.”
Life jackets, buoys and a deflated inflatable boat are seen, as a P&O ferry sails in the background, after a failed attempt by migrants to illegally cross the English Channel to reach Britain, on Sangatte beach, near Calais, northern France, on December 4, 2024. File photo
Around 50 migrants have been treated by the French humanitarian charity Utopia 56, and firefighters are treating ten people with severe hypothermia, BFM TV reported.
A group of people believed to be migrants are taken to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force ship following an incident with a small boat in the English Channel, December 29, 2024.
A French Navy helicopter participated in the rescue mission that took place on the beach near Calais, while lifeguards were stationed in front of the Fort Lapin camp, in the coastal commune.
TO France blue The report, citing the North Sea and Channel Maritime Prefecture, stated that too many people had tried to board the small ship, in what was described as a “chaotic boarding”.
Several migrants suffered hypothermia in the extremely cold water, while others did not have life jackets and were unable to stay afloat.
Two British Border Force vessels could also be seen in the middle of the Channel, according to shipping website Marine Traffic.
The ships Typhoon and Volunteer, as well as the Tacu, which picks up migrant boats once people have been loaded onto catamarans, were in British waters in the middle of the Strait of Dover.
Charity worker Flore Judet said: ‘A ship was supposed to set sail with sixty people on board, but a group of fifty more people tried to board the ship.
“This created extreme panic, causing many to end up in the water.”
Jacques Billant, prefect of Pas-de-Calais, said an overcrowded ship may have contributed to the tragedy.
He told a news conference: “There were more people trying to board than the ship could hold.”