Child among five dead on Channel migrant boat

Five people, including a child, have died while trying to cross the English Channel in the early hours of Tuesday, French authorities have said.

The coast guard said the victims were trying to get to the UK on an overloaded boat carrying 110 migrants.

According to officials, the boat initially ran aground on a sandbank after setting off from Wimereux near Boulogne before continuing.

Several search-and-rescue-operations are under way.

Three men, a woman and a child died when the passengers on the overcrowded boat moved, crushing them.

UK Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “These tragedies have to stop. I will not accept a status quo which costs so many lives.”

Mr Cleverly said the British government was doing everything it could to “break the business model” of the “evil people smuggling gangs.”

Last night, the UK Parliament passed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda Bill, after months of wrangling. The law aims to send migrants arriving on small boats to have their asylum claims processed in Rwanda, which the UK government says will deter people smugglers.

Local French media reported that tens of boats left at around 03:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday when weather conditions were favourable and the sea was calm.