Four people killed in small boat incidents off France – unconfirmed reports – The Irish News

An unconfirmed number of people have died, including a child who was “trampled to death”, following two small boat incidents off the coast of France.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau posted on X that “several people had died.”

Local newspaper La Voix Du Nord has reported that three people have been killed near Calais and one near Boulogne as rescue operations are underway.

Mr Retailleau wrote: “Today several people died trying to cross the Channel. A child was trampled to death in a boat.

“A terrible tragedy that should make us all aware of the tragedy that is unfolding.

“The human 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 border crossings of death.”

According to France24, the child, believed to be around four years old, was found in a boat and not in the water, and another migrant was injured and airlifted to hospital in Boulogne.

The news site quotes officials as saying that a French tugboat, the Abeille Normandie, took on board 14 people and took them to the commercial port of Boulogne.

It adds that the incident was not a shipwreck and that the boat and its other occupants continued their journey across the Channel.

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

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

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

Some of those who arrived on Friday were pictured wearing life jackets as they were taken to Dover on a Border Force vessel.

The arrivals came on the same day that Britain and other G7 countries agreed on an anti-smuggling action plan aimed at boosting cooperation in this area following talks in Italy.

The Home Office said this includes joint investigations and intelligence sharing in an effort to tackle criminal smuggling routes.

The action plan also describes “working together” with social media companies to monitor the internet and various platforms to prevent them from being used to facilitate migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

This includes calling on social media companies “to do more to respond to online content advertising migrant smuggling services.”

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

“As we have seen in so many recent devastating tragedies in the Channel, people smuggling gangs don’t care whether the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will do everything we can to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

“We are making progress and strengthening our workforce in the UK and beyond. Our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and increase our efforts to investigate, apprehend and prosecute these vicious criminals.”