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An overloaded migrant dinghy headed for the UK from France on Thursday night capsized and sank, killing one baby, despite French maritime authorities managing to rescue 65 people from the ship.
This latest sinking makes 2024 the deadliest year since 2018 for migrants trying to cross the English Channel.
A baby died when an overloaded migrant boat headed for Britain sank in the Channel off the coast of France on Thursday night, French maritime authorities said Friday.
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The accident occurred off the French town of Wissant, the maritime authority in charge of the Channel and the North Sea told AFP, adding that 65 people were rescued but a “baby was found unconscious and sadly declared dead”.
The latest sinking brings the number of migrants who perished while trying to cross the Channel this year to at least 52 – a record since 2018.
On September 3, six children and an equal number of adults died. A month later, a two-year-old boy and three adults died after overloaded boats got into trouble during the dangerous crossing.
The number of migrants arriving in boats to Britain averaged 53 this year as opposed to 13 in 2020, according to official British figures.
Over 26,000 migrants have landed on British shores since January 1, according to UK Home Office figures.
The French and UK governments have sought to stop the flow of asylum seekers and migrants, who may pay smugglers thousands of euros for passage to the UK from France on small boats.
France’s new right-wing Prime Minister Michel Barnier said earlier this month that the country needs a stricter immigration policy. He promised to be “ruthless” with people traffickers, who he said “exploit misery and despair” that push undocumented asylum seekers to risk trying to cross the Channel and the Mediterranean Sea.
