Child ‘trampled to death’ among ‘several’ migrants to die while attempting to cross Channel
A child is one of “several” migrants who died while attempting to cross the English Channel, according to a French minister.
The country’s interior minister Bruno Retailleau said the child was “trampled to death” on a boat.
“Several people died trying to cross the Channel. A child was trampled to death in a boat,” he said in a post on the X social media platform.
“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 organising these crossings of death.”
Deaths in the Channel are now troublingly familiar
Adam Parsons
@adamparsons
Deaths in the Channel have now become troublingly familiar.
We are no longer shocked, or even very surprised, when people die while trying to get from France to Britain in these unsuitable inflatable boats. But what happened today resonates on two levels.
As humans, we should be shocked that people die in this way, particularly when a small child is trampled – a grotesque way for a young life to end.
And note that, once a group of passengers, as well as the dead child, had been taken off, the boat continued on its way. These journeys can be brutal, dangerous and callous.
Secondly, for politicians, on both sides of the Channel, there is that pressure to do something, and to be seen to do something.
The Rwanda plan has gone and won’t come back. The promotion of Michel Barnier to become French prime minister could be the catalyst for Paris to take a more proactive view against migration.
It’s easy to think that would help the problem in the Channel, but Mr Barnier’s focus will be on those entering France – not those leaving it.
Many in France blame the British for what they see as a lax benefits system, and for denying asylum seekers any opportunity to register their claim before reaching British shores.
The people under pressure are Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper, and their promises to tackle cross-Channel migration by being tough on people smugglers.
The more tragedies we see, the more people who cross, the greater the focus on whether those promises are fulfilled.
Local French newspaper La Voix Du Nord also reported three people had died off the coast of Calais, as well as one near Boulogne. They also said rescue operations are ongoing.
It marks the latest fatal crossing attempt in the Channel and comes just over a month after 12 people died when their boat sank in September.
Ten women and girls were onboard a small board when “the bottom of the boat ripped open,” the mayor of Le Portel Olivier Barbarin said at the time.
The French coastguard added more than 65 people had been rescued after a vessel got into difficulties.
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Meanwhile, a total of 395 migrants arrived in the UK on seven boats having crossed the English Channel on Friday, according to UK authorities.
Some of those arriving were pictured wearing life jackets as they were brought to shore at Dover on a Border Force vessel.
Friday’s figures mean the UK has seen 25,639 migrant arrivals so far this year. By 4 October last year, 25,330 migrants had arrived.