Child dies after fall from overcrowded Channel crossing, probe opened

A child has died after falling from an overcrowded small boat crossing the English Channel on Sunday morning, French authorities said, as emergency teams rescued dozens of other migrants and prosecutors opened an inquiry into the weekend’s incidents. The body of the child was later found on Écault beach near Boulogne-sur-Mer, Cécile Gressier, the local prosecutor, said, adding that an investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances of the death and that the victim’s age and nationality have not yet been established.

Emergency services commander Jonathan Caruso told officials that 48 other people who had fallen from the same dinghy were rescued from the sea and received care at a first-aid station in Équihen-Plage. Despite those casualties, the small boat is understood to have continued on and reached England with roughly 50 people still aboard.

The incident follows the deaths of two women on Saturday in a separate crossing off the coast south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, who French authorities said either suffocated on an overloaded vessel or drowned after it began to break up. Boulogne prosecutors have opened a criminal inquiry into the deaths over the weekend as they seek...