NORTHERN FRANCE — A small boat carrying migrants attempting to cross the English Channel ran aground overnight on Hardelot beach in northern France, leaving two people dead and 16 others injured. The Pas-de-Calais prefecture said an investigation is underway into the incident.

The vessel had set out with 82 people on board from Hardelot beach, located a few kilometers south of the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Its engine failed and the boat began to drift before running aground with 65 people still aboard.

A French maritime gendarmerie vessel rescued 17 people from the water and brought them to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Three of the injured suffered serious burns caused by fuel at the bottom of the boat.

Two women in their 20s, believed to be from Sudan, were found dead. They most likely died from suffocation.

The grounding was the third deadly incident involving migrants attempting the crossing to the United Kingdom in just over a month. The previous month, two men and two women died as they tried to board an inflatable boat off the coast of northern France. British authorities arrested a man from Sudan on suspicion of endangering life in that case. A week before, two other people died in similar circumstances off the coast north of Calais.

The U.K. and French governments signed a new multimillion-euro deal aimed at reducing the number of migrants crossing the English Channel. The agreement provides for increased police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France.

More than 6,000 migrants have reached the U.K. after crossing the channel so far this year, a figure down 36% from the same period last year. The aid group Utopia 56 said at least 172 people have died at the French-U.K. border over the past three years, including 123 at sea.