More than 970 migrants cross the Channel – the highest daily number this year | British news

A total of 973 migrants crossed the English Channel in 17 boats on Saturday – the highest daily number this year.

This figure beats the previous record set in 2024, which was 882 people on June 18.

French authorities said four people were killed Saturday while trying to cross the Channel, including a two-year-old boy who was “trampled to death.”

Jacques Billant, prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, said the French coast guard had responded to a boat with almost 90 people on board that had an engine failure.

Fifteen people were transferred to a tow vessel, including the boy, who was unconscious.

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

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

He added: “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 organizing these crossings of death.”

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Yvette Cooper, the UK Home Secretary, responded to Mr Retailleau on the social media site, saying it was “appalling” that more lives had been lost at the channel, “including a young child”.

“Criminal smuggling gangs” do not care “whether people live or die,” she added.

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

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

The total number of deaths so far this year stands at 51, Mr Billant told reporters. The figure for 2023 is reportedly 12.

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

This week, Britain and other G7 countries agreed an action plan against smuggling aimed at boosting cooperation.

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