A woman with disabilities abandoned her walker to brave waist-deep waters, struggling intensely for a spot on a packed inflatable dinghy destined for Dover.
This elderly individual was among the throngs of migrants embarking on boats to the UK, just after Britain committed to a £2 million weekly payment to France for beach patrols.
According to police reports, the incident resulted in two fatalities and three injuries.
Taking advantage of the improved weather conditions in Northern France, smugglers launched at least five boats after a week without any crossings.
The Daily Mail observed approximately 50 migrants racing across Gravelines Beach towards the sea, having spent the night concealed among the dunes.
As they prepared to board, they removed coats, socks, and shoes, rolled up their trousers, and put on life jackets, awaiting the smugglers’ arrival with the vessel.
The large group – made up mostly of Arab and African men – were followed by eight police officers who stood there, filming on their phones.
It was another 40 minutes before the boat made its way to shore but it became clear it was already half-full and the migrants inched further and further into the water, desperate to secure a place.
The smugglers screamed at the asylum seekers to get into place and grew frustrated at the crowd which struggled to obey orders amid the panic and confusion.
Two men, both believed to be in their 40s, were pronounced dead despite rescue efforts
Emergency crews including an air ambulance rushed to the scene between Calais and Dunkirk
It came after Shabana Mahmood signed a two-month extension deal for French cops to stop small boats
One disabled woman, who had been sitting on her walker during the long wait, abandoned the aid and was carried towards the boat by a relative.
And a desperate mother perched her two-year-old daughter on her shoulders as she tried to navigate the chest-high water.
It took the smugglers two attempts to manoeuvre the dinghy into position before migrants scrambled through the waves, wrestling for space on board.
Desperate screams echoed across the beach as those already crammed on board reached out frantically, hauling others from the water on to the boat.
Meanwhile, four migrants who appeared to be struggling were pulled from the Channel by French police on a patrol boat and transferred to a nearby coastguard vessel.
The migrant boat appeared to turn away but came around a third time to take on more passengers, though more than a dozen asylum seekers gave up and reluctantly walked back to safety.
The four smugglers who had orchestrated the launch then stepped off the boat, walked back to shore and casually strolled past police officers without so much as a glance from law enforcement.
Police later handed out space blankets to a Kurdish mother and her two children, who were soaked after wading into the water and failing to get on board the boat.
Those left behind had to make the gruelling 20km journey back to their camp, hopeful to make the journey to Britain another day.
Three were injured after being pulled from Channel
The tragic incident adds to the growing toll of crossings as migrants continue to risk their lives attempting to reach Britain from France
The UK is to pay France £16.2m to patrol beaches for the next two months as part of a renewed deal
Under a three-year agreement first signed in 2023, Britain has paid £476m to France for extra patrols to catch migrant smuggling gangs
While the agreement had been due to expire, talks to renew it have been extended by two months, as Mahmood pushes for more enforcement officers to be deployed by France
UK sources said the Home Secretary was ‘driving a hard bargain to deliver a better deal for the British people,’ adding: ‘We need more bang for our buck.’
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour were paying France for ‘continued failure’
‘We shouldn’t pay the French a penny until they agree to substantially increase their prevention rate and start intercepting at sea by force – as they promised last summer,’ Philip said
Dangerous crossings in the Channel have increased over the past three years, with 41,472 people arriving in the UK by small boat in 2025
The tragic incident came after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood agreed for the UK to pay France £16.2m to patrol beaches for the next two months, as the two sides continue to hammer out a new deal to intercept small boats attempting to cross the English Channel.
Under a three-year agreement initially signed in 2023, Britain has paid £476m to France for extra patrols to catch migrant smuggling gangs.
While that deal had been due to expire in recent days, talks to renew it have been extended by two months, as Downing Street pushes for more enforcement officers to be deployed by the French government.
A Home Office spokesperson said that Mahmood was ‘driving a hard bargain to deliver a better deal for the British people,’ adding: ‘We need more bang for our buck.’
But Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour were paying France for ‘continued failure’.
He added: ‘We shouldn’t pay the French a penny until they agree to substantially increase their prevention rate and start intercepting at sea by force – as they promised last summer.’
Dangerous crossings in the Channel have increased over the past three years, with 41,472 people arriving in the UK by small boat in 2025.
