Nearly 1,000 migrants crossed Channel yesterday - as two-year-old boy and three adults dead in double tragedy

6 October 2024, 20:37 | Updated: 7 October 2024, 07:32

Nearly 1,000 migrants crossed the English Channel on small boats on the day that four people, including a two-year-old boy, died in the strait.

973 people aboard 17 boats were intercepted by Border Force vessels on Sunday - the highest number on a single day in 2024 so far.

The Home Office confirmed the figures on Sunday - a day after the two-year-old boy was 'trampled to death' in a dinghy in the strait.

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A woman and two men were also killed, French authorities confirmed.

France's maritime prefect confirmed the tragedy which took place on Saturday morning aboard two overcrowded boats.

The incident took place in French waters.

France's Interior Minister called it as "terrible tragedy" and said people smugglers "have the blood of these people on their hands".

Local newspaper, La Voix Du Nord, has reported that three people had died off Calais and one near Boulogne, with rescue operations ongoing.

A local official is due to give a press conference in Calais later.

The French interior minister Bruno Retailleau posted on X about the incident.

He said: "Today several people died trying to cross the Channel. A child was trampled to death in a boat.

"A terrible tragedy that must make us all aware of the tragedy that is unfolding.

"The people smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organising these crossings of death."

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The fatal incident comes after the Home Office confirmed that 395 migrants arrived in the UK crossed the English Channel on Friday in the first arrivals in five days.

The latest arrivals, who had travelled in seven boats, bring the total for the year to 25,639.

This compares to 25,330 by the same date last year and 33,611 in 2022.

Some of those arriving on Friday were pictured wearing life jackets as they were brought to shore at Dover on a Border Force vessel.

The arrivals came on the same day as the UK and other G7 nations agreed an anti-smuggling action plan designed to boost co-operation on the issue following talks in Italy.

The Home Office said this includes joint investigations and intelligence-sharing in a bid to target criminal smuggling routes.

The action plan also details "working collaboratively" with social media companies to monitor the internet and different platforms to prevent them being used to enable migrant smuggling and people trafficking.

This includes calling on social media companies "to do more to respond to online content that advertises migrant smuggling services".

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A Home Office spokesman said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

"As we have seen with so many recent devastating tragedies in the Channel, the people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.

"We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

"We are making progress, bolstering our personnel numbers in the UK and abroad. Our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute these evil criminals."