Channel Tragedy and Multiple Boat Capsizes Kill Dozens

Two women died overnight attempting a perilous Channel crossing off Neufchâtel‑Hardelot when a makeshift boat carrying about 100 people got into difficulty; roughly 60 people were rescued and a couple and child were hospitalized with hypothermia. French officials said the dead—reported to be Somali women—may have suffocated, drowned or been crushed in the overcrowded boat, and prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry into the people‑smuggling operation. Reports differ on the year‑to‑date small‑boat death toll (variously cited as at least 25–26 or lower), even as roughly 32,000 migrants have crossed to Britain by small boats since January; authorities say a new Franco‑British returns/asylum scheme has not deterred attempts. Separately, a boat capsizing on Bangladesh’s Padma River during a funeral trip left one man dead and two others missing as divers and locals continue search-and-rescue efforts. In Sarawak, Malaysia, one body was recovered after a boat capsized in Sungai Krian and three Indonesian nationals remain missing. Off Cagayan in the Philippines seven fishermen died when their vessel capsized amid Super Typhoon Nando, and off Oregon a commercial fishing captain was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard as his vessel sank.