A baby has died after an overloaded boat packed with more than 60 migrants sank off the coast of France on Thursday.
Sixty-five migrants were rescued after the dinghy got into difficulty off the coast of Pas-de-Calais but the baby was found unconscious in the water after a search. The infant was subsequently declared dead.
A French navy vessel was among four ships and a helicopter that joined the rescue operation after being alerted to the sinking dinghy.
The migrant boat was found to be heavily loaded with people and others were in the water when the rescuers arrived, the maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea said.
The team put their rigid inflatable boats in the water and began recovering the migrants struggling in the sea, the maritime prefect added.
The Abeille Normandie, an assistance and rescue intervention tug chartered by the French navy, took 65 people on board.
However, the prefecture said: “After a search, an infant was found unconscious in the water and unfortunately declared dead.”
Increasing number of children dying
It brings the total number of migrants who have died attempting to cross the Channel this year to 53, compared to 12 for the whole of last year.
Six children and six adults died on Sept 3. A month later, a two-year-old boy and three adults died when their overloaded boats got into trouble.
An increasing number of children are dying in the small boats because they are vulnerable to being trampled or crushed in the overcrowded dinghies and being in the sea.
On Oct 5, a two-year-old boy was crushed to death in a boat carrying nearly 90 people that got into difficulty after its outboard engine failed.
The French authorities said an investigation had now been opened into the latest sinking by the public prosecutor’s office in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The 65 rescued people and the dead baby recovered by the Abeille Normandie were then dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Once docked, all the rescued people are taken into the care of by the land rescue services and the border police.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said: “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.
“As our analysis this week showed, these crossings are getting ever deadlier, with the total number of deaths this year being greater than the previous three years combined. 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.”
‘Worrying trend’
A total of 27,509 migrants in 519 boats have been intercepted by Border Force making the crossing so far this year. That is five per cent higher than the 26,116 in 2023 at the same point but below the 37,000 in 2022, the record year for crossings.
People smugglers are cramming more migrants into the dinghies as supplies of boats and equipment have been limited by crackdowns by border agencies and law enforcement. The average number of migrants per boat is now around 60, triple the rate when the first dinghies started crossing in 2018.
Dame Angela Eagle, the border security minister, has previously warned of a “worrying trend” where the small boats are being filled with more migrants than in the past.
She said the quality was also “deteriorating,” which meant “these crossings are getting more and more dangerous as time goes on.”