\n Two men have died attempting to cross from northern France to southern England by boat, French authorities said on Thursday \u2013 the first known migrant deaths in the Channel this year. France and the UK remain divided over how to intercept people making the dangerous crossing without risking lives. <\/p>\n
Issued on: 02\/04\/2026 – 16:12<\/p>\n
2 min Reading time\n<\/p>\n
The men, one from Afghanistan and the other from Sudan, died on Wednesday while attempting to board an inflatable dinghy that was carrying around 30 people, authorities in northern France said.<\/p>\n
Another 111 people were rescued in several operations in the Channel the same day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Turkish national who was pulled out of the water after the fatal incident was arrested on suspicion of organising the crossing attempt, a French police source told news agency AFP.<\/p>\n
The deaths came the day after France and the UK\u00a0agreed to extend a migration deal to curb Channel crossings by two months to allow for negotiations on a longer-term agreement.<\/p>\n
The UK wants to link funding to stricter interception targets, an approach France has warned could endanger lives.<\/p>\n
UK seeks ‘value for money’ to renew France migrant deal<\/a><\/p>\n Channel deal extended <\/p>\n Under a 2018 agreement, the British government committed to financing surveillance and law enforcement operations in France to stop migrants from heading out into the Channel in small boats to reach the UK.<\/p>\n The deal was extended for three years<\/a> in March 2023, when the UK agreed to pay France the equivalent of around \u20ac545 million over three years.<\/p>\n Just hours before the agreement was due to expire at midnight on Tuesday, both countries decided to extend operational contracts to give negotiators an additional two months.<\/p>\n “France and the UK are united in efforts to stop illegal small boat crossings,” the British interior ministry said in a statement, adding that the UK would provide some \u20ac18 million to fund the extension.<\/p>\n According to the ministry, the deal has stopped some 42,000 migrants from making the crossing.<\/p>\n Humanitarian groups challenge UK-France migration deal in French court<\/a><\/p>\n Disagreement over targets <\/p>\n The UK is reportedly pushing for its financial contribution to be tied to a higher target number of boats stopped\u00a0\u2013 a way for the UK to achieve “long-term value for money<\/a>“, according to\u00a0Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson.<\/p>\n