Child among at least five migrants dead in English Channel crossing attempt hours after Rwanda bill passed
The French coastguard has confirmed that five people, including a child, have died attempting to cross the English Channel on Tuesday morning
A child is among at least five migrants who have died in an attempt to cross the English Channel, just hours after Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill was passed by Parliament.
The victims were among more than 110 people who were on a small boat which capsized on hitting a sandbank after setting off from a beach in the town of Wimereux in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.
The five who died included three men, a woman and a child, a spokesperson for the French coastguard said. Local newspaper La Semaine dans le Boulonnais reported that the child was a girl aged four.
The boat capsized during “mass panic” onboard after the small vessel hit a sandbank, said one refugee charity worker, who witnessed the return of some of the migrants.
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