A child was ‘trampled to death’ at the bottom of a boat attempting to make the treacherous journey across the English Channel.
Several more people were killed after two incidents with small boats off the coast of France earlier today.
Local newspaper, La Voix Du Nord, has reported that three people had died off Calais and one near Boulogne, with rescue operations ongoing.
French interior minister Bruno Retailleau said in a statement on X: ‘Today several people died trying to cross the Channel. A child was trampled to death in a boat.
‘A terrible tragedy that must make us all aware of the tragedy that is unfolding.
‘The people smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organizing these crossings of death.’
France24 reported that the child, understood to be aged about four, was found in a boat and not in the water.
Another person was wounded and airlifted to hospital in the city of Boulogne, on the north coast.
A French tow vessel, the Abeille Normandie, is reported to have picked up at least 14 people on board. They were brought to the commercial port.
The incident was not a shipwreck and the boat and its other occupants continued its journey across the Channel.
This comes after the Home Office confirmed that 395 people arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel on Friday in the first arrivals in five days.
The latest arrivals, who had travelled in seven boats, bring the total for the year to 25,639.
This compares to 25,330 by the same date last year and 33,611 in 2022.
Some of those arriving on Friday were pictured wearing life jackets as they were brought to shore at Dover on a Border Force vessel.
The arrivals came on the same day as the UK and other G7 nations agreed an anti-smuggling action plan designed to boost co-operation on the issue following talks in Italy.
The Home Office said this includes joint investigations and intelligence-sharing in a bid to target criminal smuggling routes.
The action plan also details ‘working collaboratively’ with social media companies to monitor the internet and different platforms to prevent them being used to enable migrant smuggling and people trafficking.
This includes calling on social media companies ‘to do more to respond to online content that advertises migrant smuggling services’.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
‘As we have seen with so many recent devastating tragedies in the Channel, the people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.
‘We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
‘We are making progress, bolstering our personnel numbers in the UK and abroad.
‘Our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute these evil criminals.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Get your need-to-know
latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.