A CHILD has tragically died today after falling off an “overcrowded” small boat crossing the English Channel.
The horrific incident on Sunday morning followed two women dying in similar circumstances yesterday.
Migrants sit on inflatable boats during an attempt to cross the English Channel yesterday[/caption]
Cécile Gressier, prosecutor in the French port town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, said the child’s body washed up on nearby Écault beach.
Ms Gressier said: “An investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances of the death.
“The victim’s age and nationality have not been determined.”
Other sources at the scene suggested that the deceased was a young teenager.
Emergency services commander Jonathan Caruso said 48 other migrants who were on the same boat were rescued after falling into the sea.
The dinghy is the understood to have “continued on to England” with around 50 still onboard.
The latest death means that at least 21 people have died this year as they attempt to reach Britain from France on a small boat.
Boulogne prosecutors have opened a criminal enquiry into all the weekend deaths, as they try to find the people smugglers responsible for launching the boat.
Children were among three who died on the route earlier this month after they were crushed at the bottom of a boat.
At total of 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to reach England in the same way.
This was a record since smugglers started launching small boats full of migrants in 2018.
A group of migrants on an inflatable dinghy leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the English Channel yesterday[/caption]
