Teenage migrant drowns while trying to cross the Channel in small boat
Teenage migrant drowns while trying to cross the Channel in small boat carrying 60 people – as number to have made the crossing so far this year passes 25,000
- Teenager believed to be Eritrean was found tragically drowned Sunday morning
- He was just one of 60 passengers crammed into a small boat crossing Channel
A teenage migrant tragically drowned this morning after trying to cross the Channel in a small boat rammed full of 60 people.
French emergency services found the body of an Eritrean male aged around 17 to 18 years of age on October 8.
The victim was travelling on just one of a number of small boats which tried to make it to Britain.
According to French authorities, 60 migrants boarded the small boat which capsized in the Channel shortly after it left the country.
Dozens of people, including young women and men, fell into the water.
The teenager was just one of 60 deperate people crammed into a tiny boat crossing the Channel
Home Office figures show that more than 25,000 people have been detected crossing the English Channel so far this year
French paramedics and firefighters scrambled to the scene while French detectives started an investigation into the death.
Most migrants needed medical attention after the incident and they were interviewed by detectives
A source said: ‘Sixty migrants on a boat is going to create massive problems. It was an unsettled night as well.
‘They could be heard screaming and shouting for help when they were in the water and returned to the French coast.
‘They were unable to cross.’
Home Office figures show that more than 25,000 people have been detected crossing the English Channel so far this year.
This is down on last year’s figures which by this time in 2022 had reached 33,001.
Pictured: Border Force bring 50 Migrants ashore at Dover Docks on October 1 who had been rescued mid-Channel
READ MORE: Hundreds more migrants cross the Channel as people-traffickers use new tactics to keep one step ahead of the authorities
But the numbers are still up on 2021, when 17,085 had made the dangerous crossing by September 30, and it was 7,000 by the same point in 2020.
An investigation by the News Advocates Investigates podcast has found migrants are being offered trips across the Channel from Dunkirk for £1,500 per person, claiming they would be taken to a four-star hotel by British police once they arrive.
The people smugglers also claim Brexit has made it easier for them as they state there are ‘no fingerprint’ checks any more, the podcast said.
The team of undercover reporters posed as family members looking to bring a cousin to the UK illegally, and they covertly recorded their conversations with the people smugglers.
On the safety of crossing the Channel, one of the gang said: ‘If the boat has a problem the [UK] police will come help the boat. When the boat goes into the English Channel the police are waiting and will help… They will take him to a four-star hotel.’
On the benefits of Brexit, the gang is reported to have said: ‘Now England is out of Europe it is very good for us… no fingerprints.’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak used his Conservatives conference speech to do ‘whatever is necessary’ to stop small boats crossing the Channel.
The Prime Minister said: ‘I never pretended that stopping the boats would be easy.
‘At the time I committed the Government to delivering that goal the consensus was simple – there was nothing we could do about it.
‘It is not impossible, and we are proving it.
‘Small boat crossings are, for the first time since the phenomenon began, down 20 per cent this year. All while entry into Europe is up.
‘We are by no means where we want to be – but don’t let anyone tell you we aren’t making progress. We are, and we will get there’
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