French authorities reported they had rescued 6,310 migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach the UK in 2024, a 30 percent rise on the previous year.
In total 72 people died and three went missing, the maritime authorities for the northern French region of Pas-de-Calais said on Thursday.
However last week, Xavier Delrieu, a French official heading an office tasked with fighting migrant smuggling, gave a higher toll.
Delrieu, who leads a team of 157 specialist investigators, backed up by 450 police officers throughout France, said there had been 78 deaths last year – a record since small boat journeys across the Channel increased in 2018.
Both the French and British governments have vowed to crack down on people smugglers who are often paid thousands of euros by migrants to organise the crossing from France to England on packed dinghies.
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Increasing loads
Thursday's report said that while smugglers loaded an average of 45 people on a single small boat in 2023, that figure increased to 54 last year.
It said this had increased the number of deaths linked to asphyxia by crushing aboard these dinghies.
Some migrants last year were embarking on these boats further south along the coastline than previously seen, leading to longer journeys and extended periods during which they were exposed to the elements and the risk of crushing, the report added.
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"The stage of boarding and/or return to the beach is particularly dangerous and chaotic, resulting in the risk of hypothermia or drowning and/or asphyxia," it noted.
Men, women and children often wade out into cold choppy waters off the beaches to board the unstable dinghies.
The report also added that migrants and smugglers were so determined to reach British shores that they often only sent out distress calls as a last resort.
Migrant rights groups, however, say that increased police surveillance is forcing migrants to take more risks.
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(With AFP)
