A 7-year-old girl died in a canal near Dunkirk after a makeshift boat carrying 16 people from northern France to Britain capsized, the provincial government said.
The boat, which was carrying 10 other children aged between 7 and 13, as well as the girl’s pregnant mother, her father and her three siblings, sank, taking everyone on board into the water.
Emergency services were alerted to the incident at around 7.30am on Sunday and said they were unable to resuscitate the little girl.
The incident occurred 16 miles (26 kilometers) inland from where the ship was supposed to be on the coast, raising new questions about the steps criminal smugglers take to avoid detection.
“This is the first time we have collected migrants after a shipwreck,” said Daniel Deschodt, mayor of the town of Watten, near the site of the accident.
“This phenomenon is new. We had already set off from the canal about a month ago, but that was it. They tried to get further out [away] More so than the coast because it’s already saturated.They are now starting from the interior,” he told reporters voice of the north newspaper.
This is the sixth death in 2024 due to people smuggling across the Channel.
In January, five people died and more than 70 people were rescued in sub-zero temperatures when they tried to board a small boat near the French seaside resort of Wimereux.
The EU and UK have pledged to work more closely together in their efforts to tackle criminal gangs. Europol recently said the gangs, which are mainly led by Iraqi Kurds operating outside Germany, have complex logistics involving ships imported from China, shipped to Belgium and stored in safe houses. Until enough immigrants are recruited to make the dangerous journey.
Ten days ago, French, Belgian and German police forces dismantled one of the most important gangs operating in Calais, arresting 19 people, including the gang’s five leaders based in Germany.
Interior ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the latest legislation on immigration, among other topics.
A report released last week by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime said: “Efforts by the UK and France to raise immigration barriers are likely to tighten the grip on ‘ruthless organized criminals'” [Rishi] Sunak points to it, rather than destroys it. “
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