A body was found on the beach of Neufchâtel-Hardelot in the Pas-de-Calais region on Wednesday morning, September 23, shortly after an attempt to leave France clandestinely for England, according to AFP journalists. The death was declared around 9 a.m. by firefighters, who had been called to the scene. The body was washed ashore by the waves and later taken into custody by gendarmes. At the time, other individuals attempting to cross the English Channel were still present in the nearby dunes. The identity of the deceased man remains unknown, though he is believed to have been of African descent and in his early twenties, according to the prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Cécile Gressier. Around 6 a.m., a canoe had successfully departed from the same beach, according to AFP journalists. An investigation has been launched to determine whether the death is connected to a taxi-boat embarkment that occurred earlier in the night, said Ms. Gressier. Victor Meyer, coordinator of the Utopia 56 association in Calais, suggested that the death likely happened during the rush of attempted crossings. He noted that many of those trying to reach the UK are at the end of long migratory journeys and are willing to take significant risks to cross the English Channel. Later in the day, about twenty people, including two children, entered the water at the same beach, hoping to be picked up by a taxi-boat, but they were unsuccessful, according to an AFP photographer. Soon after, a boat departed from Équihen-Plage, a few hundred meters north of the original site, carrying more than 60 people on board. Including this new death, at least 17 people have lost their lives this year alone in attempts to cross the Strait of Pas-de-Calais, one of the busiest maritime routes in the world. According to official British figures, since January 2020, 17,480 people have reached the UK by sea, and over 200,000 have done so since the start of precarious Channel crossings in 2018. In a related case, on Tuesday, prison sentences of up to ten years were requested in a Paris court against 14 smugglers, mostly from Afghanistan and Iraqi Kurdistan, suspected of being involved in the deadliest shipwreck in the English Channel, which resulted in 31 deaths in 2021. These individuals are currently on trial, with proceedings set to continue until September 30.