Baby dies after migrant boat capsizes in Channel

A baby has died in the Channel after a boat carrying migrants ran into difficulties, French authorities have said.

A total of 65 people were rescued after the boat, which was headed towards the UK, capsized in the water off the coast of Wissant in the Pas-de-Calais region.

French search and rescue teams deployed four ships and a helicopter to aid the operation on Thursday evening. When they arrived at the boat, they found it was heavily loaded and that some people were already in the water.

Those rescued were taken back to the port at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The local prefecture said in a statement: “Rescuers found that the boat, which was heavily loaded, was in difficulty and that some of the people were in the water.

“Rescuers began to recover the people in difficulty.

“At the same time, further searches were carried out to find people who could be stranded at sea.”

This latest tragedy brings the number of deaths in the Channel this year up to at least 52.

CEO of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, said their analysis showed that crossings were getting ever deadlier, with the total number of deaths this year being greater than the previous three years combined.

He added: “We are heartbroken that a baby has died in yet another devastating and depressingly preventable tragedy in the Channel. People who make the crossing are fleeing war, conflict and persecution and simply want to be safe.

“This procession of death and tragedy shows we need to rethink our approach. Lives will continue to be lost if we carry on as it is.”

Imogen Hardman, head of operations in Calais for refugee charity Care4Calais, said: “As a team, we mourn every life that has been lost in the English Channel, but it hits harder when children are the victims of the government’s hostile environment.

“We’ve already witnessed a record number of deaths on our border in 2024 and the burning question the UK’s new government has to answer is how many more lives need to be lost before you take action? Instead of offering safe routes, our political leaders continue to talk about border security, and the deaths continue with increasing regularity.”

At the beginning of October, a two-year-old child was crushed to death and three other people died in two attempts to make the perilous crossing from France.

French authorities said the child had died after being trampled following a “wave of panic” among the migrants trying to board a dinghy.

An investigation into Thursday’s tragedy has been opened by the public prosecutor’s office in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

A total of 27,509 people have arrived in the UK in small boats so far this year after crossing the Channel - 5 per cent higher than the equivalent point last year.

The total arrivals is 26 per cent lower than the same point in 2022.