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  "path": "/news/migrant-crisis-four-people-dead-small-boat-capsizes-france",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-09T07:36:32.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "France rejects Britain’s offer to intercept and return small boat migrants in fresh blow to Shabana Mahmood",
    "Almost 300 small boat migrants swarm across Channel in one day - with more expected in hours ahead",
    "Migrant crisis: Runner who ‘trained with Mo Farah’ accused of sexually assaulting teen after waiting for her to be left alone at bus stop",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nFour people have died after a small boat sank in the English Channel.\n\nThe taxiboat sank just off the coast of Boulogne in the early hours of this morning.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA massive rescue operation was launched just after 7am, with reports of multiple migrants in the water.\n\nLocal French authorities in Calais said: \"A taxiboat sinking occurred today. The situation is still being assessed and remains subject to change.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nUK and French authorities have expressed growing concern in recent days that people smugglers are cramming larger numbers of migrants on each boat.\n\nYesterday, two small boats made it to the UK, each carrying more than 80 migrants.\n\nSeveral attempts to launch migrants boats have taken place this morning, with at least one boat en route to the UK.\n\nOther attempted launches ran into difficulties.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nEarlier this week, GB News revealed Border Security Command has deployed new vessels to collect migrants making their way across the Channel\n\nThe newly branded Border Security Command vessel Courageous arrived at Dover harbour just after 5pm on Tuesday.\n\nThe People’s Channel counted 65 migrants who were brought ashore at the new Border Security Command processing centre in Dover.\n\nThe new vessels are slightly large variants of catamarans that were previously deployed by Border Force in response to migrant sightings..\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * France rejects Britain’s offer to intercept and return small boat migrants in fresh blow to Shabana Mahmood\n  * Almost 300 small boat migrants swarm across Channel in one day - with more expected in hours ahead\n  * Migrant crisis: Runner who ‘trained with Mo Farah’ accused of sexually assaulting teen after waiting for her to be left alone at bus stop\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nNew reports have suggested smugglers are increasingly using Belgium's shoreline to transport migrants to Britain since tighter controls began along the French coast.\n\nThough numbers remain comparatively small, there have been 17 such departures this year, compared with no more than two per year since 2021, police spokesperson An Berger told Reuters.\n\nEU border agency Frontex spokesperson Chris Borowski said: \"The shift to Belgian beaches is driven by a combination of factors, and the intensification of French coastal patrols is the most significant one from our perspective.\"\n\nMigrants pay about €2,000 (£1,741) to smugglers, with no guarantee of boarding a boat and sometimes face threats and abuse including sexual violence, authorities say.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nLast month, volunteers pulled 19 people from a sinking dinghy during a night-time operation in the Belgian coastal municipality of De Haan, Berger said, adding only one had a life jacket.\n\nMore attempts are expected with better weather coming.\n\nSome 2,200 migrants have crossed the Channel, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, to Britain in the first two months of 2026, according to data from the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory.\n\nAbout 41,500 people crossed the Channel last year.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Four people dead after small boat capsizes while trying to cross Channel from France"
}