A seven-year-old girl died on Sunday after a boat carrying 16 migrants capsized in the English Channel.
She had been travelling with her pregnant mother, her father and three siblings when the boat got into trouble off the coast of France in the early hours of Sunday morning, local authority Prefet du Nord said.
Another couple, two men and six young children were also on board the “probably stolen” vessel, which was unfit to carry that number of passengers, officials added.
All passengers were taken to hospital in Dunkirk.
Her death came on a day when more than 300 migrants arrived in the UK, according to British authorities. Home Office figures show 327 people made the cross-Channel journey in eight boats on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 2,582, at an average of 41 per boat.
Officials said the stricken passengers were transported to a hospital in Dunkirk on the northern French coast and their lives were not thought to be at risk.
A walker raised the alarm and police and firefighters attended the boat that was in the Canal de l’Aa in Watten, Prefet du Nord added.
Afghan migrant documents dangerous journey across Channel – video
This week’s Home Office figures showed more than 2,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the strait between England and France.
The number of Channel arrivals is 32 per cent lower than the total recorded this time last year (2,953) but 49 per cent higher than the total at this stage in 2022 (1,482).
Some 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK after making the crossing in 2023, down 36 per cent on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
The Home Office said there were no new arrivals on Monday or Tuesday this week, but 290 asylum seekers arrived across five boats last Sunday.
Child migrants arriving in the UK – in pictures
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Young migrants are checked in Dungeness, Kent, England, after being rescued by an RNLI lifeboat from a small boat in the English Channel on August 16, 2023. PA / Getty Images -
A migrant and three children arrive in Kent on September 26, 2023. PA -
Children are driven from the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, after being rescued from the Channel on August 23, 2023. PA -
A migrant child is carried after arriving in Kent, following rescue from a small boat in the English Channel on August 16, 2023. PA -
A man and three young migrants arrive in Kent on August 16, 2023. PA -
A young boy smiles after coming ashore in Dungeness on September 22, 2022. PA -
A migrant boy is carried to shore in Dungeness on September 15, 2022. PA -
Border Force officers take migrants, young and old, to Kent on September 5, 2022. PA -
Migrants arrive at Dungeness on September 4, 2022. PA -
A woman and child are escorted into Dungeness after being picked up from a small boat in the English Channel on August 27, 2022. PA -
Young children are taken into Dover on June 21, 2022. PA -
Migrants arrive in Dover on June 21, 2022. PA -
A little girl is carried by a security officer after arriving in Dover on June 7, 2022. PA -
Child migrants are guided in to Dover, Kent, after being rescued from a boat on the English Channel on May 31, 2022. PA -
Young migrants sail into Dover on May 23, 2022. PA -
Border Force officers escort 40 migrants into Dover on May 6, 2022. EPA -
Military personnel help young children in to Dover on May 2, 2022. PA -
A soldier carries a toddler in to Dover on April 19, 2022. PA
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made stopping the boats one of his top five main pledges to the electorate in January last year.
