LILLE: According to the prefecture in the Nord department of France, a seven-year-old girl drowned on Sunday when a tiny boat carrying sixteen migrants from northern France to Britain overturned.
The boat capsized shortly after people boarded in the Aa canal, a few kilometers from the waterway’s outflow into the Channel, since it “was not appropriately sized to carry so many people,” the local authority stated in a statement.
The inland mishap is the most recent example of a pattern where migrants intending to reach Britain from France board boats far from the coast in order to evade increased monitoring there.
The prefecture further stated that after someone went for a walk and set off the alarm, police and firefighters hurried to the area.
Prosecutors in Dunkirk told AFP that the seven-year-old child had passed away “on the spot of the effects of cardio-respiratory arrest,” adding that the attempts by rescuers to revive her had been “in vain.”
They said, “Several people are in custody” over the incident, and detectives are looking into potential offenses such as organizing a criminal gang, smuggling people, and manslaughter.
The girl’s parents were transported to a hospital in Dunkirk, according to the prefecture, along with three more of their children.
The prefecture identified the other passengers as the girl’s parents, another couple, and two young men. The prosecutors said that ten youngsters, ages seven to thirteen, had been on the boat. The boat was described as “apparently stolen.”
English Channel migrant crossings continue to be a source of contention between France and Britain.
In January, British Interior Minister James Cleverly told AFP that the two nations would “expand upon” their effective cooperation, citing data indicating a 36% decrease in crossings by 2023.
