CALAIS: A two-year-old child was killed and several adult migrants died in two separate tragedies overnight when their overcrowded boats tried to cross the Channel to Britain, French officials said on Saturday.

The child was found in an overloaded dinghy when migrants issued a call for assistance on Saturday morning. The boat was carrying nearly 90 people and suffered engine failure off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France.

Citing initial information, regional prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said the child was “crushed” to death. Fourteen other migrants were picked up by French authorities including a 17-year-old teenager who had to be hospitalised with burns to his legs, officials said. The other passengers continued their journey.

French authorities say they seek to stop people taking to the water but do not intervene once they are afloat except for rescue purposes, citing safety concerns. Another boat overcrowded with migrants also suffered engine failure off the coast of Calais, leading to panic. Some migrants fell into the sea and were rescued.

Three people — two men and a woman aged around 30 — were then discovered unconscious at the bottom of the boat, Pas-de-Calais regional prefect Jacques Billant told reporters. The three were “probably crushed, suffocated and drowned” in the water at the bottom of the boat, added the prefect.

Britain and France increase cooperation to intensify fight against gangs organising deadly Channel crossings

The interior ministers of France and Britain condemned the “appalling” tragedies.

“A child was trampled to death in a boat,” France’s hard-line interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said on X, adding that several other people had died in the “appalling tragedy.” “The smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these gangs who enrich themselves by organising these deadly crossings,” Retailleau added.

British Interior Minister Yvette Cooper struck a similar note. “It is appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel today, including a young child, as criminal smuggler gangs continue to organise these dangerous boat crossings,” she said.

“The gangs do not care if people live or die — this is a terrible trade in lives.” Cooper said on X she was in touch with Retailleau, adding the two met this week to discuss “our determination to increase cooperation and law enforcement to pursue and dismantle criminal gangs.” The latest tragedies bring to 51 the number of migrants who have died attempting to reach England from France so far this year, according to Billant.

Channel crossings to Britain by undocumented asylum seekers have surged since 2018 despite repeated warnings about the perilous journey. The Channel has heavy maritime traffic, icy waters and strong currents.

Migrants sometimes get crushed or trampled to death in overcrowded boats. In July, a 21-year-old woman from Kuwait was crushed to death in a migrant boat off the French coast.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024