A child has died in the English Channel after falling off an overcrowded small boat this morning.
Disaster struck when the child and 48 other migrants on a rammed dinghy fell into the sea – the child’s body later washed up on Écault beach, France, nearby.
Around 50 other passengers aboard the small boat were rescued before it continued to England, according to emergency services commander Jonathan Caruso.
Cécile Gressier, prosecutor in the port town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, confirmed a child had died and said an investigation into the circumstances was underway.
Ms Gressier added: ‘The victim’s age and nationality have not been determined.’
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This comes just a day after two women died on Saturday morning, while trying to cross the channel to Britain on a makeshift boat with 100 people south of the Neufchâtel-Hardelot beaches.
Regarding today’s death, a source in France indicated that the victim was believed to have been a teenager, according to Lille-based newspaper La Voix Du Nord.
Emergency services, including firefighters, had attended the scene along with French police.
In the Équihen-Plage municipality, a garage was opened to shelter stranded migrants.
Thousands of migrants have crossed the channel in small boats since the ‘one in, one out’ agreement between Britain and France came into effect in August, Home Office figures show, and people continue to die on these perilous journeys.
On just one day in September last year, 77 people died after attempting to cross the channel, according to French authorities.
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