Investigation finds French police used ramming tactics off Mayotte that left at least 24 dead or missing

A joint investigation by Lighthouse Reports and The Times has concluded that French border forces have used aggressive manoeuvres, including ramming and circling small migrant boats, in waters between the Comoros and the French island of Mayotte, resulting in the deaths or disappearance of at least 24 people.

The tactics, deployed over many years as thousands attempt the short but hazardous crossing from the volcanic Comoros archipelago to Mayotte, reportedly include deliberate waves created by fast police vessels and direct collisions that have torn boats apart. Survivors and court records cited in the investigation describe children and infants among those killed and wounded. In the most recent incident identified, on July 15, two people were killed and seven others reported missing; other passengers suffered life-threatening injuries, including a man who lost both legs after contact with a police boat propeller.

Survivors interviewed by journalists described the sequence of events in graphic terms. Zoubert, 25, told investigators he saw a pregnant woman drown after the kwassa he was in was struck and "ripped apart." Another survivor, Amahada, said the police vessel first shone a light, then created waves and ultimately struck the boat at speed; he said officers then watched as people abandoned the wreck in the water. A separate case from 2019 involved Farid Djassadi, who lost both legs after being thrown overboard in a collision; a court later found the police boat’s engine exceeded legal limits and that the officers had insufficient training to operate it.

French authorities have long treated crossings to Mayotte as a persistent security and political problem. Mayotte has been an overseas department and region of France for 182 years and is on the front line of a steady flow of migrants from neighbouring Comoros. An anonymous official at the French State Secretariat for Maritime Affairs told investigators that Mayotte’s situation is "completely different" from the Channel and argued that the island’s migratory pressure justified a more aggressive posture. A former French minister quoted in the report said the interceptions in Mayotte were "not legal but yes, probably happens."

French politicians and officials have publicly acknowledged concerns about the tactics. In 2024 the then secretary of state for the sea, Hervé Berville, described such manoeuvres as "ineffective and even dangerous" in a letter to the prime minister and recommended ruling them out because of risks to both migrants and crews. Court records and investigative reporting show the first recorded fatality linked to such interceptions occurred in 2007; investigators found ten drowned migrants in one location in 2021.

The revelations come as France maintains that similar forceful interventions would breach maritime law in the English Channel. French officials have told British counterparts that ramming or deliberately capsizing migrant boats in the Channel would violate international rules and could cause mass casualties because Channel crossings often carry far larger numbers of people. Nevertheless, French officials are reported to be working on legal changes that could permit more robust at-sea pushbacks in the Channel.

The issue has immediate implications for UK migration policy. A High Court ruling in London recently blocked British ministers from returning a small-boat migrant to France, a decision that lawyers and politicians say could encourage similar legal challenges and complicate bilateral returns arrangements. The ruling came amid political turmoil over the government's plan to limit crossings; Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the court decision left Labour’s returns agreement with France "in legal limbo."

Within France, opinion is divided. Some politicians and officials oppose exporting the Mayotte approach to the Channel and inland waterways used by people-smugglers. Critics cite the risk of mass drownings if more aggressive contact is authorised where vessels carry larger numbers. Supporters in local enforcement units in Mayotte have posted patrol footage on social media showing speedboats manoeuvring around kwassas, arguing force is necessary to stem flows they say destabilise the island.

Humanitarian groups and rights lawyers who have reviewed the evidence described by Lighthouse Reports and The Times have called for independent investigations and for France to align maritime interception practices with international law and safety norms. French authorities have not disputed that interceptions have occurred but have stressed the difficulty of policing vast maritime zones and the danger that unchecked smuggling poses to local communities.

Despite years of forceful interdiction in the Indian Ocean and repeated drownings, crossings to Mayotte have continued, underscoring the persistent drivers of migration from the Comoros, including poverty and limited economic opportunity. The investigative report documents multiple legal decisions and witness statements that, according to advocates, point to systemic failures in training, vessel safety standards and accountability for operations that have sometimes had fatal outcomes.

The French government and national police declined to provide new, detailed operational comments to the investigative teams beyond reiterating that security services must operate within legal constraints and that deaths at sea are tragic. The longer-term impact of the revelations is likely to be felt both in domestic French debates over overseas policing practices and in ongoing UK-French negotiations over Channel returns and maritime cooperation.

International lawyers warned that any formal move to permit forceful pushbacks in the Channel would require careful legal drafting and clear operational safeguards to prevent large-scale loss of life. For now, the investigation’s findings have heightened scrutiny of long-standing practices in France’s overseas territories and renewed calls for transparent, independent inquiries into lethal maritime interceptions.