Six men found guilty of manslaughter in Paris over deadliest small boat Channel crossing

A court in Paris has found six men guilty of manslaughter in connection with the deadliest small boat Channel crossing.

Seven other men were found guilty of lesser smuggling ​charges with varying degrees of seriousness, including facilitating illegal immigration ​as part of an organised gang and criminal conspiracy.

Two of the accused were tried in absentia.

The trial, which began earlier this month, investigated the deaths of at least 30 people whose inflatable boat sank while crossing the English Channel in November 2021. It remains the worst small boat mass drowning in the Channel to this day.

The victims, who set off from a beach in northern France, were mainly Iraqi Kurds, but also included Afghans, Ethiopians, an Egyptian, a Somali national, an Iranian Kurd and a Vietnamese national.

The youngest ‌known victim was a seven-year-old girl. Twenty-seven victims were recovered, while at least four others were never found - only two men survived.

Sentences for the six men found guilty of manslaughter ranged from ‌six ⁠to 10 years in prison. For others, sentences ranged from six months suspended to four years in prison. One man was found innocent.

The migrants had been packed on to a flimsy dinghy that was non-certified and unfit for open-sea navigation, and was not carrying enough life jackets, court documents showed.

Experts concluded its occupants had "no chance" of effectively dealing with an emergency at sea.

A French fishing vessel alerted emergency services after spotting bodies floating in the waters off the French coast, according to the court referral order.

Among the defendants facing involuntary manslaughter charges were alleged organisers, transporters and logistics coordinators connected to smuggling groups.

Prosecutors argued their actions helped create the conditions that led to the disaster, even if some were not physically present when the boat launched.

One of those who drowned was an 18-year-old Kurdish man called Twana Mamand Mohammed. He was trying to reach the UK to reunite with his sister and fulfil his dream of playing football for Man City. His body has never been found.

When I interviewed his brother, Zana, in northern Iraq, weeks after the disaster, he vowed justice for Twana.

"One of the reasons why young people from this country, and less developed countries, travel to Europe is because of their humanity and how they help people and even animals.

"But there were 33 people in a dinghy in the sea, experiencing difficulties and in need of rescue and the police of one of the two countries neglected their duties and did not help them.

"It is true that my brother and his friends chose to take an illegal route to the UK, but whether it's Britain or France, perhaps they sentenced these people to death for the crime of being smuggled."

A British public inquiry found the deaths could have been prevented and underfunding meant that UK marine rescue resources were inadequate and under-staffed.

The report, released earlier this year, found that the people smugglers had overloaded an unsafe boat and provided poor safety equipment, including life jackets stuffed with cotton.

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It also found that a French naval vessel, which was closest to the emergency, failed to respond and UK coastguard called off their search mission too early. It's possible that more people could have been rescued alive had the search operation continued through the morning.

(c) Sky News 2026: Six men found guilty of manslaughter in Paris over deadliest small boat Channel crossing