Migrant crisis: 4 dead in English Channel crossing [Video]

PARIS, France –

French authorities said four migrants, including a two-year-old child, died Saturday in two separate incidents as they attempted to cross the English Channel toward Britain.

France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau deplored a “terrible tragedy” on X, saying that the child “was trampled to death in a boat.”

“The smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands,” Retailleau added, saying his newly-appointed government is to “intensify the fight against these mafias who make money from these deadly crossings.”

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Saturday’s deaths come as a series of shipwrecks made 2024 the deadliest in recent years on the English Channel. Last month, 12 people died after a boat carrying migrants ripped apart in the English Channel. About two weeks later, eight migrants died in a similar crossing attempt.

In a news conference, the prefect of the …