28 October 2020
Four people - two adults and two children - have died whilst attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat, which sank off the coast of France. There are calls for changes to the UK's asylum system and border control measures to prevent the same thing happening again in the future. This incident follows the drowning of a teenager earlier this year.
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Channel migrants: Deaths should be 'a wake-up call' for those in power (BBC News, link):
The deaths of two children and two adults after a migrant boat sank off the coast of northern France should serve as a "wake-up call" to those in power, charities have said.
Fifteen others were taken to hospital but the French authorities believe at least one more could be lost at sea.
Care4Calais urged the government to create legal routes for refugees to reach the UK.
UK PM Boris Johnson pledged to "crack down" on gangs facilitating crossings.
An investigation into the cause of the sinking has been opened by the public prosecutor in Dunkirk.
Searches which paused overnight are expected to begin again on Wednesday morning, but the BBC's Simon Jones said - now 24 hours on from the sinking - it was likely to be "a recovery operation rather than a rescue operation" if there are still people out in the Channel.
And: Channel migrants: Four dead as boat sinks near Dunkirk (BBC News, link)
In August, a teenager died attempting to make the crossing. See: In Calais, Abdulfatah Hamdallah was the latest victim of European migration policies (29 August 2020): On Wednesday 19 August, Abdulfatah Hamdallah, a Sudanese refugee from western Kordofan, was found dead on a beach in Sangatte, in Pas-de-Calais, after trying to cross the strait that separates the United Kingdom from France aboard a makeshift boat.
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