ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – French police on Sunday rescued 70 migrants – among them 20 Kurds – whose dinghy sank in the English Channel while attempting to cross over to England.

“The migrants are now in France and in good health, only the children have fallen ill due to the cold and are now receiving medical treatment,” Ranj Pshdary, a migration activist based in Europe told The New Region on Sunday.

The incident was reportedly caused by a puncture in the dinghy, resulting in its deflation and subsequent influx with water, putting the migrants on board in danger.

The English Channel carried around 37,000 migrants on small boats in 2024, marking a 25 percent increase from 2023’s 29,437, according to data published by the British Home Office. 

The Channel claimed 57 lives in 2024, the deadliest year on record for crossings, according to the UN migration agency (IOM).

The British National Crime Agency (NCA) announced mid-January that they had arrested three people on suspicions of links to a people smuggling network that move migrants from Kurdistan Region to the UK in a joint operation with the Kurdistan Region’s Asayish forces.

In late November, the British government announced reaching a “world-first” security agreement with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, aimed at combating illegal migration and other border security concerns, after a three-day trip to Baghdad and Erbil by UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. 

Despite the British government’s constant crackdowns on gangs smuggling people into the country, tens of thousands of migrants illegally try to cross the sea and land routes every year in search of a better life in Europe and the United Kingdom, with a large number of them coming from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and surrounding areas.