At least five migrants, including a child, die trying to cross the Channel

At least five migrants, including a child, died overnight while attempting to cross the Channel from France to Britain, a French police source said on Tuesday, April 23. The source, who asked not to be named, said the circumstances of their deaths around the beach in the town of Wimereux, near the seaside resort of Boulogne-sur-Mer, were not immediately clear.

It is just the latest tragedy as migrants, many from the Middle East and Africa, attempt to make the perilous crossing in search of what they hope will be a better future in Britain. On March 3, a seven-year-old girl drowned when an overcrowded migrant boat capsized in the Aa Canal, about 30 kilometers from France’s northern coast.

People trying to reach Britain are increasingly boarding boats on inland waterways to avoid intensified patrols on the French coast. At the end of February, a 22-year-old Turkish man died and two more people went missing in the Channel near Calais. In January, five people, including a 14-year-old Syrian, died in Wimereux as they waded through cold seawater to reach a boat off the coast. Twelve migrants died last year while trying to cross the Channel, French authorities say.

British officials processed 5,373 migrants who landed on the coast of southeast England in the first three months of this year after crossing the Channel in small ships, the Home Office says.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government is under increasing pressure to reduce the number of crossings, especially after promising a tougher approach to immigration after Britain leaves the European Union.

News of the latest migrant deaths comes after the British government’s controversial plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda cleared a final hurdle in parliament on Monday. The United Nations and Europe’s top rights body have urged Britain to scrap the plan.