Two-year-old boy ‘trampled to death’ as ​​four migrants die trying to cross Channel | World News

A two-year-old boy was “trampled to death” when he and three adults lost their lives trying to cross the English Channel on Saturday, French authorities said.

Jacques Billant, prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, said the French coast guard responded to a boat carrying almost 90 people that suffered engine failure.

Fifteen people were transferred to a tugboat, including the unconscious boy.

A medical team was sent by helicopter but he was pronounced dead.

He was “trampled to death,” said French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on X.

He added: “The people smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will step up the fight against these mafias who get rich by organizing these death crossings.”

Yvette Cooper, Britain’s home secretary, responded to Mr Retailleau on the social media site, saying it was “appalling” that more people had lost their lives on the channel, “including a small child”.

“Criminal trafficking gangs” don’t care “whether people live or die,” she added.

Ms. Cooper said she had been in contact with Mr. Retailleau and wanted to “increase cooperation and law enforcement.”

In a second incident, a boat with 83 people on board also suffered engine failure.

Three passengers were found unconscious at the bottom of the ship, Billant said. They were “probably crushed and suffocated.”

He explained: “Despite the intervention of doctors, they were declared dead. There are two men and a woman, all three in their 30s.”

“Two new tragedies occurred at sea this morning. The toll is very heavy as we deeply regret the deaths of four people: two men, a woman and a child.”

Saturday’s two incidents followed earlier deaths on Sept. 3 and Sept. 15, Billant told reporters.

The total number of deaths so far this year is 51, he said. For 2023 the number should only be 12.

The migrants rescued on Saturday came from Eritrea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Kuwait and Iraq, he added.

In the September 3rd incident 12 people died when their boat sank.

Ten women and girls were aboard a small boat when the “bottom tore open,” Le Portel Mayor Olivier Barbarin said at the time.

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Meanwhile, 395 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom on seven boats after crossing the English Channel on Friday, according to British authorities.

Some of those arriving wore life jackets as they were taken to the Dover coast on a Border Force ship.

Friday’s figures mean 25,639 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year.

As of October 4 last year, the number was 25,330.

This week the UK and other G7 countries agreed an action plan to combat smuggling that aims to strengthen cooperation.