‘It’s a human disaster’: the French seaside towns on the frontline of small-boat tragedy

The local fishing crews had been finishing their long night’s work catching lobster and crab off the northern French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer when the mayday alert came in.

Axel Baheu and Gaëtan Baillet immediately rushed to their two boats to assist in the rescue. A small inflatable dinghy had ripped apart in the Channel with at least 60 people, mostly from Eritrea, on board, hoping to reach England. What the fishers saw would haunt them for ever, they said.

Twelve people died in the disaster on Tuesday; at least half of them were under 18, and 10 were female. Baheu, in his lobster boat, the Murex, pulled three bodies from the water. He told the Voix du Nord newspaper that his crew had wept as they had pulled in the casualties and seen the inadequate precautions they had tried to take for safety in the dangerous waters.

One girl, who Baheu estimated had been between 15 and 20, had carefully placed her phone in a plastic pocket, firmly secured around her neck. The phone was ringing as her body was brought to shore. Of the approximately 65 people on board, only eight had lifejackets. One had been carrying a swimming float.

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Baillet, who has never before had to pull a body from the water, said the dinghy had been going down rapidly: “Only a little bit at the back was left, the rest was sinking.”

The tragedy, off Cap Gris-Nez, north of Boulogne-sur-Mer, was the deadliest such incident since 27 people died in November 2021. It exemplifies a dangerous new development in small boat crossings: the use of departure points increasingly further afield from Calais. The location of the sinking underlines how smugglers are responding to high security in Calais by encouraging people to board boats further along the north coast – increasing the risks, because the boats then have farther to travel to reach England.

Le Portel is a classic northern seaside town of 10,000 people adjoining Boulogne-sur-Mer. It has a stunning shoreline, traditional beach huts, and a fish processing port. On Tuesday, it set up a medical rescue station as the survivors and the dead were brought ashore.

Only a few years ago, the popular tourist spot had never seen people fleeing countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East attempting to get to England. But now there are such regular attempts to set sail here that dog walkers often find piles of clothes by the shore after a boat has left, or even see groups of people walking along the beach to board dinghies.

It was mid afternoon on Tuesday when Cédric Toupet, 44, a funeral director in Boulogne-sur-Mer, received the call to go to Le Portel. The 12 bodies lay under white sheets at the impromptu medical centre on the quay. Toupet was asked to take the dead to hospital for medical and legal examination.

“It is terribly sad,” he said. “One person’s death would be a tragedy. Twelve people dying is extremely difficult. There are a growing number of these tragedies. A while ago, it was happening around Calais or Dunkirk; now it is increasing in the Boulogne area. These are people who have very difficult, precarious lives, who leave countries at war, often with their families. They are looking for a better life, which unfortunately no one is offering them.”

At the beach in Le Portel, the mayor, Olivier Barbarin, looked out to sea near where the survivors had been brought to shore. He said: “There is great sadness and heartbreak, when you see bodies brought in, and the crying of children who have been saved but who may have lost a big sister or brother.”

He said that as recently as two years ago, small boat crossings did not happen in Le Portel, which is almost 25 miles from Calais. “But now, 72 hours don’t go by on my beach without a departure or attempted departure – often there are too many people to board the boat, or they are stopped by police. As mayors of small seaside towns, we’re not used to this. It’s a human disaster for us.”

He said that whereas once 30 to 40 people would be crammed into an inflatable boat, numbers now often reached 80 onboard. Boats often departed in the early hours of the morning, but increasingly they were also leaving during the day, he added – even in summer while other children on the beach built sandcastles and tourists sunbathed in bikinis. He described the incongruous sight of women and children crying as they tried to squeeze on to a boat while other children playing in the sand watched “open-mouthed”.

Le Portel town hall is often used to distribute food and clothes to people who have been rescued. “I regularly speak to these people, who tell me they absolutely want to reach England,” Barbarin said. “Many speak very good English, or they have family members there, or they are persuaded they can get work in England without papers.”

He is worried that calm weather in September and October will lead to more attempted crossings. On Monday alone, 351 people crossed in small boats, with 21,615 having made the journey this year, according to UK government statistics.

The French home affairs minister, Gérald Darmanin, said France was stopping 60% of crossings, and that 1,700 police and gendarmes were stationed on the coast, but called for the EU and Britain to negotiate a new treaty on migration.

Local people said they felt shame and sadness at the increasing number of deaths.

Pauline, a nurse at Boulogne hospital, was walking her dog along the shore at Le Portel, where she grew up. She said of the deaths: “It’s happening so regularly now, it’s incredibly sad. I sometimes see piles of clothes by the shore. I often see people who have been saved or stopped from crossing, even children sitting here by the beach barefoot, five years old or younger.

“Earlier this year, I saw dozens of people heading down to the beach. An inflatable boat was prepared and set off, but there were people trying to swim behind it, as it had left without them. They gave up because the water was so cold. Then they were dripping wet and desperate on the beach.”

In Boulogne, Sandrine, 42, a port worker, said: “Everyone here thinks this is a complete catastrophe. It is shameful that people are dying. We have to find a way to stop this.”

Paul, who works in the fishing industry at the port, said: “People think England is El Dorado and want to get there. I feel sadness, but I don’t know who is to blame any more. Politicians need to fix this.”