A child was reported to be among several people who died attempting to cross the Channel overnight, according to French officials.
The French interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, suggested the child had been “trampled to death” on a boat.
“Several migrants have again lost their lives trying to reach Great Britain by crossing the Channel,” the Pas-de-Calais prefecture said in a statement on Saturday.
The child, reported to be about three or four years old, was found in the overcrowded boat after passengers sent an SOS to rescue services. One injured person was taken by helicopter to hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer and 12 others were rescued.
Last month, eight people died when their small boat sank off the French coast as they tried to cross the Channel. At the beginning of September, 12 people lost their lives when their craft broke up in the sea.
France’s interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, posted on X: “This appalling tragedy should make us all aware of the catastrophe 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 enrich themselves by organising these crossings of death.”
Retailleau suggested the child had been “trampled to death” and that “several” people had died.
Olivier Barbarin, the mayor of the town of Le Portel, off the coast of which Saturday’s rescue took place, said the dead child was about four. After a number of migrants were taken off the dinghy, it was reported the other passengers insisted on continuing their journey across the Channel.
A total of 395 migrants arrived in the UK having crossed the Channel on Friday in the first arrivals in five days, Home Office figures show.
The latest arrivals, who had travelled in seven boats, bring the total for the year to 25,639. This compares with 25,330 by the same date last year and 33,611 in 2022.