A seven-year-old girl died by drowning on Sunday in the Aa canal, which flows into the North Sea, in Watten (North), while she was on a small boat which capsized. This boat, with 16 migrants on board, “was not sized to support so many people”, said the Northern prefecture in a press release. It capsized a few kilometers from the coast, “shortly after these people got on,” she added. All the passengers fell into the water, the prefecture told AFP.
Ten people taken to hospital
Alerted by a walker, “police and firefighters immediately rushed to the scene”. The little girl’s parents, who were on board with their three other children, “were transported to the Dunkirk hospital center”. On board this small boat, “likely stolen”, according to the prefecture, “were also a couple, two men and six young children”, whose “days are not in danger”.
A total of ten people were taken to hospital. Five others – two men and three children – were welcomed in a room provided by the Watten town hall. This tragedy is the third resulting in deaths in 2024 during attempts to cross the Channel to reach England.
Twelve migrants lost their lives in 2023 while trying to cross the Channel, according to Prémar. In 2023, 29,437 migrants reached the English coast illegally, compared to 45,774 in 2022, a record year, according to figures from the British Interior Ministry.