At least four people, including a two-year-old, die in two attempts to cross the channel on crowded boats.

A two-year-old has been crushed to death and three other people have been killed in two attempts to cross the English Channel using overcrowded boats, French authorities say.

“A child was trampled to death,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X on Saturday. “… The smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands, and our government will intensify the fight against these gangs who enrich themselves by organising these deadly crossings.”

The body of the toddler was found in a boat on Saturday, and three adult immigrants were killed while seeking to reach British shores in another boat, Jacques Billant, prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

A dinghy carrying the toddler issued a call for assistance on Saturday morning that was picked up by a French tow vessel, the Abeille Normandie. Officials said that from 8am to 9am [06:00 to 07:00 GMT], the vessel took 14 people on board, including the deceased.

French officials clarified that the incident was not a shipwreck and the deceased child was found inside the boat rather than in the water. The other passengers continued their journey.

Another boat overcrowded with migrants also suffered engine failure off the coast of Calais in France, leading to panic. Some migrants fell into the sea and were rescued.

Three people – two men and a woman aged about 30 – were then discovered unconscious at the bottom of the boat, Billant told reporters.

The three were “probably crushed, suffocated and drowned” in the water at the bottom of the boat, the prefect said.

Crossings continue amid crackdown promises

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned the “appalling” tragedies.

“It is appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel today, including a young child, as criminal smuggler gangs continue to organise these dangerous boat crossings,” she said in a post on X.

“The gangs do not care if people live or die – this is a terrible trade in lives.”

Cooper said she was in touch with Retailleau, adding the two met this week to discuss “our determination to increase cooperation and law enforcement to pursue and dismantle criminal gangs”.

The latest tragedies bring to 51 the number of migrants who have died trying to reach England from France so far this year, according to Billant. Eight people died in mid-September when their overcrowded vessel capsized while trying to cross the channel.

Channel crossings to Britain by undocumented immigrants have ballooned since 2018, reaching 25,000 since the start of this year. The French and British governments have sought to stop the flow of these asylum seekers and migrants, who may pay smugglers thousands of euros each for the passage to England from France on board small boats.

France’s new right-wing prime minister, Michel Barnier, said on Tuesday that the country needs a stricter immigration policy. He promised to be “ruthless” with people traffickers, who he said “exploit misery and despair” that push undocumented asylum seekers to risk trying to cross the channel and the Mediterranean.

Stopping the small boat arrivals on England’s southern coast was a key issue in Britain’s general election in July with new Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing plans to deal with the influx of small boats crossing from France after scrapping the former Conservative government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Cooper has said the government aims over the next six months to achieve the highest rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers in five years.