{"id":51564,"date":"2026-04-09T10:59:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/09\/4-killed-38-rescued-during-attempt-to-cross-channel-from-france-to-britain\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:00:07","slug":"4-killed-38-rescued-during-attempt-to-cross-channel-from-france-to-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/09\/4-killed-38-rescued-during-attempt-to-cross-channel-from-france-to-britain\/","title":{"rendered":"4 killed, 38 rescued during attempt to cross Channel from France to Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Equine Beach, France — <\/span>French officials said at least four people died on Thursday, including two men and two women, when they tried to board a ship inflatable boat<\/a> attempting the dangerous sea crossing from northern France to Britain<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Louch, prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region in northern France, said 38 other people were rescued, including one who was in a medical emergency. He spoke while the rescue operation was still underway at Equihen Beach on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Loach said the migrants were swept into dangerous currents as they tried to board a “taxi-boat”, the name authorities use for small motorized boats, usually inflatable, that smugglers use to pick up people along large stretches of the northern French coast.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s incident took place in a wide area of \u200b\u200bsand, surrounded by dunes and a forest, where people attempting the dangerous crossing remain hidden, sometimes for days, as they wait for boats and suitable weather and sea conditions. Police patrol buggies and keep an eye on the remains of World War II bunkers, but cannot prevent all departures to the beach for so long.<\/p>\n

attempted crossing<\/a> And deaths have increased in recent days. French maritime authorities said Wednesday that 102 people had been rescued in two separate operations trying to cross the Channel. Two people were killed in a similar incident off the coast north of Calais last week. <\/p>\n

Unlike migrant boats, which are carried by migrants themselves into the water, so-called “taxi boats” leave largely empty spots from secluded spots along the coast and pick up migrants from pre-arranged meeting areas on beaches. <\/p>\n

An Associated Press reporter witnessed such scenes in Malo-les-Bains, near Dunkirk, on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Migrants wade into the sea with adults carrying children in their arms or on their shoulders, then board inflatables waiting on the shore. Once loaded with luggage, they set off on a cross-Channel journey, sometimes picking up more people along the way. <\/p>\n

Depending on the tide, weather and police patrols, migrants sometimes have to wade up to their torsos, away from the water’s edge, to reach the boats, increasing the risk of losing their footing, getting caught in currents or going too deep. <\/p>\n

Campaign groups for migrant rights have long warned that increasingly vigorous efforts by French police to prevent the departure of boats from beaches, including using knives to cut up inflatable boats and puncture them to render them unusable, are encouraging the use of “taxi boats”, increasing the risks of drowning, injuries and the need for rescue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Equine Beach, France — French officials said at least four people died on Thursday, including two men and two women, when they tried to board a ship inflatable boat attempting the dangerous sea crossing from northern France to Britain Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Louch, prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region in northern France, said 38 other people were rescued,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[2522,261,5256,8322,1108,709,6158],"class_list":{"0":"post-51564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-news","8":"tag-attempt","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-channel","11":"tag-cross","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-killed","14":"tag-rescued"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51566,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51564\/revisions\/51566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}