Man pleads guilty over deaths of four migrants

A man has pleaded guilty after four migrants drowned trying to cross the English Channel.

Alnour Mohamed Ali, a Sudanese national, was charged with endangering life after two men and two women died while trying to board a small boat in France on 9 April.

The 27-year-old, who admitted to having piloted the vessel, appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday.

The identities of those who died have not been released.

They drowned after being swept away by strong currents at Equihen-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer.

French government official Francois-Xavier Lauch said at the time that the four were "already quite far into the sea" before they died.

He added the currents in that part of the sea "can be dangerous".

More than 40 people were rescued off the coast of northern France from around 07:30 local time that morning.

Two children were among those taken to hospital as a precaution, while another person was treated for hypothermia.

French prosecutors have been investigating the circumstances that led to the launch of the boat.

'Risk of death'

The National Crime Agency said previously that 74 people "sailed on to the UK".

Aided by an Arabic interpreter, Ali pleaded guilty to piloting a boat which "thereby created a risk of death or serious personal injury to others aboard the boat".

He also admitted knowing he would arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.

Ali will be sentenced on June 10.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 introduced a new criminal offence of endangering another during a journey by sea to the UK from France, Belgium or the Netherlands.

Ali will be sentenced alongside the first man, who is an Afghan national, convicted of the offence.

The Afghan national abandoned a dinghy carrying passengers he was driving across the English Channel when a rescue ship arrived in January, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

A total of 7,576 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France between 1 January and 20 May 2026.

This was down by 41% on the same period the previous year.

The number of people taking this dangerous route each year peaked in 2022 when more than 45,000 people made the journey.

It dropped by several thousand the next year.