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A child was among five people who died while trying to cross the Channel in a small boat, just hours after the government’s Rwanda bill passed, according to French authorities.
The French Coastguard confirmed that three men, a woman and a child died during the incident in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to provisional information.
A boat carrying 110 people set off from Plage des Allemands, a beach in Wimereux, about 20 miles south of Calais, at 5am.
After running aground in a sand bank, the boat attempted to set sail again. The Coastguard said that a “crowd movement” caused the deaths.
Another individual sustained a minor injury.
French newspaper La Voix Du Nord has reported that the father of a four-year-old girl was among the survivors, found rescue services in tears on the beach. The condition of his daughter is not clear but she was reported to be in an “emergency”.
Footage and photos taken this morning showed small boats attempting the perilous crossing to Kent through the busy shipping route.
It comes as Rishi Sunak said “nothing will stand in our way” of getting flights off the ground after the Government’s Rwanda deportation plan passed through Parliament.
Illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson said reports of further deaths in the English Channel were “absolutely chilling”.
In January, five people died when dozens of migrants tried to board a small boat that overturned in freezing waters near Wimereux.
The number of people crossing the Channel has surged this year. As of 21 April, there had been 6,265 small boat arrivals compared to 5,049 in the same period last year, an increase of 24 per cent.
So far this year, 110 distress calls have been made from people crossing the Channel in small boats since the start of 2024 to a humanitarian hotline. At the same point in 2023, just 45 calls had been made.
This story is being updated.
