A distraught father who was rescued from a migrant boat tragedy watched his ‘four-year-old daughter drown in front of him’ when an ‘overloaded’ dinghy capsized in the Channel this morning.
Three men and a woman also died after a boat with more than 110 migrants on board crashed into a sandbank off Wimereux, near Calais, causing mass panic before it flipped over.
The little girl’s father was rescued by emergency services and taken to Wimereux beach, where he burst into tears and fell into the arms of refugee charity workers ‘in a daze’.
Dany Patoux, from the Osmose 62 refugee charity, saw the father return to the beach. He said: ‘We knew the little girl well. We have photos with her, with a big smile on her face, in the hope of a better life.
‘But now, everything is ruined. Her father fell into our arms right away. He was crying, in a daze. He saw his little daughter die before his eyes.’
Officials said ‘lifeless bodies’ were found this morning on Wimereux beach, which is between Boulogne and Calais.
A helicopter of the Emergency medical services takes off from Wimereux on April 23
Emergency vehicles were seen beside an ice cream shop on the beach at Wimereux in France this morning
An emergency SAMU air ambulance was one of three that responded to the tragedy
A police officer looks on in Wimereux, near Calais, after migrants died in an attempt to cross the English Channel
Rescue boats were also seen off the coast of northern France as emergency services searched for survivors
Emergency workers rushed to the sea in a bid to save migrants who got in trouble while trying to cross the Channel
It is thought the small boat was launched from Wimereux in northern France, between Boulogne and Calais
French police tried to stop the flimsy craft launching from the beach in the early hours of Tuesday.
Yet the French failed to stop the migrants and were faced with migrants holding long sticks and throwing flares and firecrackers.
Once the migrants had got into the boat, the French police stopped trying to prevent them leaving, the BBC reported.
The migrants got into difficulty when the dinghy struck a sandbank exposed by the retreating tide.
This sparked panic and caused people to stand up, which unbalanced the boat. People started falling into the water before the boat capsized, ‘flinging everybody in to the very cold sea,’ a French maritime prefect said.
Three search-and-rescue SAMU helicopters have been scouring the sea for survivors. French Navy intervention tug the Abeille Normandie (the Normandy Bee) picked up around 100 migrants by 10am and took them to Boulogne. Others were brought to Wimereux.
By 11am, funeral directors could be seen collecting bodies around Boulogne, while migrants suffering from conditions such as hypothermia were taken to hospital.
Most of the migrants on board were paying the equivalent of up to £1,000 per head for a voyage, meaning a single boat could be worth £100,000 to a smuggler.
An investigating source based in Boulogne said ‘at least five’ overcrowded small boats were seen pushing from the beach at Wimereux at around 3am today.
He said: ‘Weather conditions were very calm, and hundreds of people were trying to get onto the boats at first light.
‘Officers had already dispersed a number of them on Monday night, and confiscated nautical equipment including inflatable boats, outboard engines, life jackets and cans of fuel.’
Despite the police operation, hundreds of men, women and children still managed to launch dinghies.
The source added: ‘All the boats were overcrowded, clearly because the people smugglers who organised them wanted to make as much money as possible.
‘There were more than 100 people on single boats, which is incredibly dangerous, and the reason they capsized — the boats just can’t take the weight of all those people.
‘There were lots of children on the boats, including a four-year-old girl who died.’
Another overloaded dinghy was pictured in French waters after the tragedy this morning
Migrants, many of them in life jackets, were seen with their feet dangling in the water
They were escorted by French patrol boat Minck and met in the Channel by a UK Border Force ship
The source said: ‘Many others who were on the capsized boats were brought ashore unconscious.’
An emergency services spokesman said: ‘Weather conditions are good, and this is one of the reasons that so many small boats set off this morning.’
A spokesman for the French coastguard said: ‘The situation is ongoing and multiple search and rescue teams are in the area.’
Olivier Ternicien, president of Osmose 62, which is based at Boulogne, said: ‘A child has died. A third helicopter has just arrived, we fear the worst.’
A criminal investigation into the deaths has been opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor.
It came just hours after Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill to deter migrants from making the perilous crossing was passed in Parliament.
Rishi Sunak vowed to let nothing ‘stand in our way’ today as he gears up to send Chanel migrants to Rwanda within weeks after the Government’s deportation plan was finally passed by Parliament.
Last year, there were 67,337 asylum applications to the UK. Of those, 29,437 came from people who arrived in small boats.
The Rwanda scheme’s capacity is 200 people per year. It means if the scheme had been running last year, it would have deported less than 0.7 per cent of small boat migrants.
In terms of the cost of the journey per person, for the first 300 migrants sent to Rwanda, it will cost the Government £1.8million per head, Whitehall’s official spending watchdog said.
After the tragedy this morning, the Prime Minister said the ‘tragic’ incident reported in the Channel ‘underscores’ the need for the deterrent effect of the Rwanda plan.
He said: ‘That is just a reminder of why our plan is so important because there’s a certain element of compassion about everything that we’re doing.
‘We want to prevent people making these very dangerous crossings. If you look at what’s happening, criminal gangs are exploiting vulnerable people. They are packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies.
‘We’ve seen an enormous increase in the numbers per boat over the past few years. This is what tragically happens when they push people out to sea and that’s why, for matters of compassion more than anything else, we must actually break this business model and end this unfairness of people coming to our country illegally.
‘I just want to pay tribute to our Border Force and the French who have cooperated as they always do to rescue people.’
‘But as I said it underscores why you need a deterrent very simply. People need to know that if they try and come here illegally they won’t be able to stay, they’ll be returned either to their own country or Rwanda. And I’m pleased that the Bill has passed through Parliament in the face of lots of Labour opposition, it was a late night.’
Migrants were taken into Dover, Kent, for processing this morning
British officials were seen guiding the migrants in life jackets from the boat
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by the Border Force following a small boat incident in the Channel today
However, the furious Mayor of Wimereux said the latest tragedy was all the fault of the British.
Jean-Luc Dubaele said: ‘Five dead in January, five dead in April. What are we waiting for? ‘Why do the English welcome them? Why do they absolutely want to travel to England? These are the questions that need to be asked.’
Mr Dubaele has frequently described Britain as an ‘immigrant El Dorado’, saying easy access to benefits, and a chance to work in the UK’s black economy, attracted thousands from around the world.
Following a similar tragedy at Wimereux in January, Mr Dubaele said: ‘At the political level, we will have to change the situation, and bang our fist on the table with the English.
‘Migrants today want to go to England because they are well received there, they can work there without problem.’
Today’s deaths followed a night of frenzied activity by French police, as they tried to stop small boats being launched towards England.
Mr Dubaele said four alleged people smugglers were arrested in he Wimereux areas.
Officers confirmed they had confiscated nautical equipment including two boats at Wimereux.
Posting a picture of them on Twitter X, they wrote: ‘Last night at Wimereux, the police foiled two deliveries of nautical equipment (2 boats, 2 cans of fuel, 2 engines and life jackets) It was handed over to the police. Our objective – Save Lives’.
The same force – France’s National Police – also arrested an individual transporting 14 migrants in a single vehicle.
‘He was taken into custody and faces charges,’ said a police spokesman.
There were so many people on board that the ship was extremely low in the water
Dozens of migrants were seen on a boat (pictured) in Calais this morning. It is not believed to be the same boat that got into trouble
Another boatload of migrants were seen on an RNLI ship today
The migrants were guided to shore by volunteers from the lifeboat charity
The first asylum seekers are expected to be rounded up and detained within days after a political tussle over the controversial law finally ended in the early hours of this morning.
The House of Lords had been engaged in an extended tussle over the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill on Monday, sending it back to the Commons five times in a bid to secure changes.
But they relented just after midnight, paving the way for it to become law and allow delayed flights to start in July, in a move Tories hope will boost the party’s hopes of being re-elected later this year.
The news did not appear to have filtered across the Channel, with more migrants boats filmed leaving the French coast near Dunkirk this morning heading for Britain.
In a statement this morning the PM, who is in Poland, said: ‘The passing of this legislation will allow us to do that and make it very clear that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay.
‘Our focus is to now get flights off the ground, and I am clear that nothing will stand in our way of doing that and saving lives.’
Illegal Migration Minister Michael Tomlinson was on Good Morning Britain when it was reported that five migrants had died. He said he was ‘absolutely stunned’.
GMB presenter Susanna Reid suggested the Rwanda Bill would do little to stop the issue of migrants crossing in small boats.
The Prime Minister has said ‘nothing will stand in our way’ of getting flights off the ground after the Government’s Rwanda deportation plan passed through Parliament
Last year, there were 67,337 asylum applications to the UK. Of those, 29,437 came from people who arrived in small boats. The Government claims the Rwanda scheme will act as a deterrent, however it only has the capacity to send 200 people a year to the East African country
Planes have already been booked and migrants will soon be detained ahead of deportation, he revealed (pictured: staff boarding a plane which was set to be the first to transport migrants to Rwanda in June 2022)
She said: ‘If dying in the Channel isn’t going to put them off, being sent to Rwanda’s not going to defer them.’
Mr Tomlinson said the threat of going to Rwanda was a deterrent. He said: ‘I’m determined to stop the boats. The deterrent effect will be up and running.’
‘We are doing lots with the French. We want to do more.’
Referring to the tragedy this morning, he said: ‘It is absolutely chilling to hear that. We have had fatalities now in the Channel for nine consecutive months.’
The Refugee Council described reports of deaths in the English Channel as ‘devastating’ and ‘all the more tragic’ coming just hours after the Rwanda Bill was passed in Parliament.
Enver Solomon, the council’s chief executive, said: ‘It is shocking to learn of the terrible loss of yet more lives in the Channel this morning. Our thoughts go out to the families and loved ones of those affected.
‘This is another devastating human tragedy that could and should have been avoided – and for it to happen just hours after the Government’s Rwanda Bill became law makes it all the more tragic.
Pictured: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaving Parliament at 11.30pm last night
‘The only sustainable way to reduce dangerous journeys across the world’s busiest shipping lane is for the Government to reduce the need for desperate people to take desperate actions.
‘Instead of hostile, headline-grabbing legislation, we need to see safe routes for those fleeing conflict and persecution, including more options for family reunion, refugee visas, and cooperation with our European neighbours.
‘We don’t need costly and unworkable laws – we need a fair and humane process that upholds the right to asylum, ensuring refugees are treated with dignity and respect.’
It follows five migrants dying while trying to get to Britain on January 14. Some 29,000 people reached the UK in small boats in 2023, despite the British government saying that stopping them was a priority.
In August last year, six people died after a boat carrying migrants sank in the Channel off the French coast, while n November 2021, at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank while heading to the UK – the highest recorded number of deaths from a single incident.
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