World News
Child dies, 65 rescued as migrant boat sinks off French coast
A child died when an overloaded migrant boat heading to Britain sank in the Channel off the coast of France on Thursday night, French maritime authorities said on Friday.
Lille: A child died when an overloaded migrant boat heading to Britain sank in the Channel off the coast of France on Thursday night, French maritime authorities said on Friday.
The accident, which occurred near the French town of Wissant, involved 65 people being rescued but one “child was found unconscious and tragically pronounced dead”, the maritime authority in charge of the Channel and the North Sea told AFP.
The latest sinking brings the number of migrants who have died while trying to cross the Channel this year to at least 52 – a record since 2018.
On September 3, six children and the same number of adults died. A month later, a two-year-old boy and three adults died when overloaded boats became stranded during the dangerous crossing.
The number of migrants arriving in Britain by boat this year has averaged 53 a day, compared with 13 in 2020, according to official British figures.
More than 26,000 migrants have landed on British shores since January 1, according to U.K. Home Office data.
