French police stand and watch as migrants dive into the sea to make way for UK

French police appeared to stand and watch as migrants crashed into the English Channel as they tried to board boats bound for the UK. Pictures showing officers on a beach in Dunkirk, northern France, emerged on Monday (April 13).

Others showed migrants in the sea trying to clamber onto a dinghy as officers stood by. The images come after four migrants drowned trying to cross the Channel from Equihen-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, last Thursday. A Sudanese man aged 27 was arrested at the Manston processing centre in Kent on suspicion of endangering life.

The two men and two women died as they tried to climb onto a so-called “taxi boat”. Two children were among those taken to hospital as a precaution after the incident and another person was treated for hypothermia.

Alnour Mohamed Ali appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court and indicated a not guilty plea with the help of an interpreter.

He was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Canterbury Crown Court on May 11.

The “taxi boat” smuggling tactic is designed to avoid detection by French police.

It sees dinghies travel along the coast with just a driver to pre-designated beaches where migrants enter the water to climb aboard.

The deaths came a day after French emergency services took part in a training exercise to practise dealing with migrants in the water.

A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK in 2025 after crossing the English Channel – the second-highest annual figure on record. There have been 5,136 arrivals so far this year.

The Government’s one in, one out deal came into force in August to send migrants who have arrived across the Channel back to France and to bring approved asylum seekers via a safe route to the UK.

That agreement with the French was due to expire in March, but it has been extended for two months as Paris and London continue talks.

The government of French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s proposal to let UK Border Force vessels intercept and send back small boat migrants.

Authorities in France are said to have dismissed the plan because it would involve British vessels entering French territorial waters, according to the French daily, Le Canard Enchaîné.

French officials have reportedly made it clear that their sovereignty over their own waters is a red line in the negotiations.