Channel crossings: shipwreck at Equihen-Plage and tensions in Pas-de-Calais

On 1 November 2026, a shipwreck at Equihen-Plage led to the hospitalisation of five people, including a pregnant woman and a 2‑year‑old child, while crossing attempts were reported in the Montreuillois area and a man was taken to the CHAM after an attempt at Berck. In the following days, rescue services took charge of about forty exiles brought back to the port of Boulogne‑sur‑Mer, three migrants suffering from hypothermia at Berck and 119 migrants in the Boulonnais, including one person who was burned. The courts convicted in Dieppe the pilot of a migrant dinghy as a human trafficker, then in Leffrinckoucke two exiles for having blocked a “taxi‑boat”. Arrests linked to nautical equipment took place at Campigneulles‑les‑Petites and Merlimont, about thirty migrants refused assistance at sea and a new night of departures at Sainte‑Cécile resulted in injuries. Finally, some 500 exiles settled in a wood at Étaples‑sur‑Mer, attempts resumed despite the cold and the Home Office recorded 924 arrivals in the United Kingdom via the Channel between 6 and 9 November.