Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings

A two-year-old boy and three adults died overnight after two boats crowded with migrants got into difficulty while attempting the perilous Channel crossing from France to England, French officials said Saturday.

The latest tragedies bring to 51 the number of migrants who have died attempting to reach England from France so far this year, according to Jacques Billant, France's prefect for Pas-de-Calais.

In one incident, a child was found unresponsive in an overloaded dinghy when migrants issued a call for assistance on Saturday morning.

The boat, carrying nearly 90 people, had suffered engine failure off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France. The boy could not be saved, a regional prefect told reporters.

Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said the child, born in Germany to a Somali mother, had been crushed to death.

Fourteen other migrants were picked up by French officials, including a 17-year-old teenager who had to be hospitalised with burns to his legs, officials said.

The other passengers continued their journey. While French officials try to stop migrants launching their boats, for safety reasons they do not intervene once they are at sea except for rescues.

In the second incident, another boat overcrowded with migrants suffered engine failure off the coast of Calais. In the subsequent panic, several people fell overboard and had to be rescued.

But rescue teams found the bodies of two men and a woman aged around 30 at the bottom of the boat, Pas-de-Calais prefect Jacques Billant said.

The three were "probably crushed, suffocated and drowned" in the water at the bottom of the boat, he added. One of the adult victims was Vietnamese, and the other two were of "African origin" said prosecutors.

- Traffickers denounced -

"This new drama shows the need to fight relentlessly against the networks of traffickers who exploit human distress," French Prime Minister Michel Barnier posted on X, formerly Twitter.

France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau also condemned the traffickers.

"The smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these gangs who enrich themselves by organising these deadly crossings."

And Britain's interior minister Yvette Cooper struck a similar note in a post on X.

"It is appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel today, including a young child, as criminal smuggler gangs continue to organise these dangerous boat crossings," she wrote.

"The gangs do not care if people live or die -- this is a terrible trade in lives."

Billant said that inflatable boats used by migrants were of poor quality without enough life jackets for everyone on board.

Traffickers did not "hesitate to separate young children from their parents" he added.

Channel crossings to Britain by undocumented asylum seekers have surged since 2018 despite repeated warnings about the perilous journey. The Channel has heavy maritime traffic, icy waters and strong currents.

- 'Misery and despair'  -

The French and British governments have sought to stop the flow of undocumented migrants, who may pay smugglers thousands of euros per head for the passage to England from France aboard small boats.

Channel crossings have accelerated since Thursday due to good weather. Since Thursday evening, police have prevented 31 attempted crossings and 237 migrants have been rescued at sea, French authorities said.

In comments broadcast on Saturday, President Emmanuel Macron said "the difficulty at the moment is how we manage to fight against human traffickers, these illegal immigration networks".

But immigration itself was not necessarily a "bad" thing, he added.

The Utopia 56 charity helping migrants said authorities must change tack.

"To put an end to these tragedies, the state's action must change, by carrying out a humanitarian rescue operation at sea, accompanied by a policy of reception in France and safe passage to England," the group said.