A record number of children died in the Channel last year according to UN data shared with the Guardian that officials have said should serve as a “wake-up call”.
Last year, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) Missing Migrants Project recorded the highest number of deaths and missing persons in the Channel, with 82 people losing their lives, at least 14 of whom were children – also a record high.
Officials think it likely that these figures are an under-estimate of the true picture.
The 82 deaths last year were more than triple the 24 recorded in 2023 and the number of children who died was a huge increase from the one death of a child in 2023.
Between 2018 and 2024, the number of child deaths in the Channel ranged between one and five a year. So far in 2025, five deaths have been recorded, none of them thought to be children.
At the end of last year, the UN secretary-general, António Guterres recommended concrete steps to reduce the risk of migrants dying or going missing, including access to humanitarian assistance to those in distress and improved data collection of those who are missing.
IOM officials have raised concerns that even when children survive these difficult journeys, separation from their parents may occur, and very little support is available for them to reunite with them.
Some of the 14 children who died last year have not been named but those whose identities have been published include Obada Abd Rabbo, 14, and Mohamed Al Jbawi, 16, who died in the same incident on 14 January.
Seven-year-old Rola Al Mayali, from Iraq, died when the boat she was on with her family capsized in a canal they were travelling along hoping to reach the Channel. Sara Al Ashimi, also seven and from Iraq, died on 23 April and Maryam Bahez, from Iraqi Kurdistan, who was one month old when she slipped out of her father’s hands in an overloaded boat on 17 October.
Christa Rottensteiner, the chief of mission for IOM in the UK, said: “The record high number of children who died in the English Channel last year is a wake-up call that more needs to be done. For those whose nationality is known, you can see that they are from wartorn countries or extremely volatile contexts. More safe and regular routes are urgently needed, and the right support need to be in place for separated children looking for their families.”
Dr Wanda Wyporska, the chief executive of Safe Passage International, said: “Crossing the Channel in these small and overcrowded boats is a terrifying experience no child should have to go through.
“Young people we support have shared heartbreaking descriptions with us. They thought they were going to die, have been hospitalised with painful petrol burns from broken engines, and were petrified of falling into the water as they couldn’t swim. We know children are often deeply traumatised from this journey, and it can take a long time for them to be able to talk about their frightening ordeal in these boats. It’s horrifying so many children have died on this unnecessary journey. This is a clear consequence of the lack of safe routes which would save children’s lives.”
