Man, 19, crushed to death while trying to cross English Channel
A 19-year-old man was crushed to death in a small boat while trying to cross the English Channel on Saturday.
Roughly 60 people were on board the vessel around 4am as it set off from the beach of Sangatte, just west of Calais, in northern France.
But the boat was leaking, filling with water and sending 30 people overboard.
Minutes later, when police intercepted and passengers disembarked., they found a grim discovery on the drenched dinghy.
‘On the ground of the boat, a man of Syrian nationality was discovered in cardio-respiratory arrest’, Guirec Le Bras, the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor said.
He was ‘probably crushed by the other migrants’, according to the French official.
Another 35 people were rescued by a helicopter, coast guard boat and fishing trawler and returned to Boulogne-sur-Mer, with a teenager taken to hospital.
Two people have been arrested.
The 19-year-old is the first to die while attempting this treacherous crossing of the world’s busiest shipping lane, known for its rough seas.
A UK Government spokesman said: ‘We can confirm there has been a tragic incident involving a small boat on the French coast which has resulted in the loss of one life. Our thoughts are with those affected.
‘This latest tragedy underlines the terrible dangers of small boat crossings, and we continue to do everything we can to prevent them.
‘These criminals only care about profit, not the lives they put at risk, which is why they are cramming ever-greater numbers of people on to increasingly flimsy and dangerous boats.’
Last year, 77 people died, the highest number since crossings began in 2018.
While some drowned, others succumbed to the cramped conditions on board the tiny vessels.
A child, aged around four, was ‘trampled to death’ on the bottom of a boat in October, on a day when several others died in two incidents off the French coast.
A 10-month-old baby was rescued from another small boat that ‘tore apart on rocks’, killing eight people, the month before. Some of them were crushed to death.
Some 36,816 crossed the Channel in small boats last year. This is a rise of 25% from the previous year, but it is still below the record 45,774 in 2022.
Rough weather has meant only 61 people arrived in the UK on small boats so far this year.
The issue was discussed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanual Macron during a meeting at Chequers on Thursday.
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