Three men, woman and a child:latest victims in the Channel after Rwanda Bill gets past peers

AT LEAST five migrants including a child died attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat packed with around 110 people, police and coastguards said today.

- Nicholas Cecil, Rachael Burford and Jitendra Joshi

The tragedy happened as they were trying to reach the UK from an area of the French coast near the town of Wimereux in the Pas-de-Calais area.

News of the accident emerged just hours after Parliament backed Rishi Sunak’s controversial Rwanda Bill.

The French coastguard confirmed a failed attempt to cross the Channel and reported that a number of a “lifeless bodies” had been found. The fatalities were said to include three men, a woman and a child, said to be a fouryear-old girl.

A coastguard official said more than 100 people were on the small boat, which reportedly initially got stranded on a sand bank. Panic was later said to have broken out on the vessel.

Dany Patoux, of the Osmose 62 refugee charity, said he witnessed the return to shore of a number of migrants, including the four-year-old ’s father. 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. Her father fell into our arms right away. He was crying, in a daze. He saw his little daughter die before his eyes.”