On 3 September at least 12 people died trying to cross the English Channel – including six children and a pregnant woman - after a makeshift boat carrying about 70 people capsized off Boulogne-sur-Mer. These new deaths bring the total number of victims in the Channel since the start of 2024 to at least 37, making it the deadliest year in the Channel since 2021. Far from being isolated events, these deaths are a reminder of the extent to which the policies implemented at the France-UK border are deadly and fail to take account of people's distress. The lack of safe and legal routes and the repression on the coast have only increased the number of tragedies.