Mathieu Guyot/AFP/Getty ImagesJacques Bilan said some people were rescued from the water, but others may have been trampled to death in the boat.
Four people, including a 2-year-old boy, died while trying to cross the English Channel, French authorities said.
Authorities said they were found “unconscious” and may have been “trampled to death” in two separate boats with engine failures.
French Interior Minister Bruno Letailault called the deaths “a terrible tragedy,” adding that the smugglers “have the blood of these people on their hands.”
In one of the incidents, French rescue teams rescued 15 people, including a boy, and one person was airlifted to a French hospital with burns to his leg.
Pas-de-Calais region governor Jacques Villain said one of the boats was off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France and had carried “almost 90 people” overnight.
He said an engine failure made it difficult to maneuver and alerted French rescue services.
“A French rescue ship was on the scene and rescued 15 migrants, including an unconscious child.
“Medical teams dispatched by helicopter were unable to save the two-year-old and he was pronounced dead.”
Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor Guirec Le Blas said the boy was born in Germany to a Somali mother and was “trampled to death.”
Virant added that a passenger with burns to his leg was airlifted to a hospital.
The passengers who remained on the boat continued their journey, AFP news agency said.
Another incident took place at night off the coast of Calais on another overcrowded small boat: “Multiple engine failures caused heavy congestion and some of the migrants fell into the sea but were rescued,” Vilant said. he told reporters.
“Three people, two men and a woman, were later found unconscious in this small boat,” it added. Virant said they were all around 30 years old.
“They were probably trampled to death during the stampede,” Virant said.
According to a statement from the French Coast Guard, 71 people were rescued from the ship, including three who were found unconscious.
An investigation has been launched by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office, the coast guard added.
Fifty-one migrants have died this year trying to cross the Channel to reach Britain, according to French authorities.
“Our government will step up its fight against the mafia that makes its fortune organizing these deadly crossings,” Letaileau said in a post on X.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper similarly posted on X, describing the death toll as “horrifying” and adding: “Criminal smuggling organizations continue to organize these dangerous boat crossings.”
“The gangs don’t care if people live or die. This is a horrible trade in life,” she said.
He said he contacted Lutailot on Saturday and that they had met earlier this week at the G7 meeting in Italy to discuss the issue.
He previously said the action plan agreed at the meeting “means a new international joint investigation team to pursue gangs, finance and supply chains.”
Earlier this week, the country’s Prime Minister Michel Barnier said France needed stricter immigration policies.
Mr Barnier said he would be “ruthless” against traffickers, adding they “exploit misery and despair” and encourage illegal asylum seekers to cross the English Channel and Mediterranean Sea. Ta.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously said he was “absolutely determined” to tackle smuggling rings facilitating border crossings, but did not set a deadline for doing so.
Home Office figures show that as of October 4, 395 migrants had arrived in the UK in small boats without permission, and 59 arrived on September 29.
More than 25,000 people have crossed the Strait so far in 2024.
The International Organization for Migration, part of the United Nations, estimates that at least 194 migrants died attempting to cross the English Channel between 2018 and September 2024.
