Desperate migrant, 16, drowns trying to paddle across Channel in ‘toy’ inflatable
A MIGRANT boy of 16 has drowned trying to paddle across the Channel in a “toy” inflatable.
The desperate lad, from Sudan, used shovels as oars in a perilous overnight attempt to reach Britain from France.
His lifeless body was found at 8am yesterday on Sangatte beach, just outside Calais.
A 48-year-old Iraqi man was also found dead in Belgian waters after he tried to swim to the UK using plastic bottles as a makeshift life-jacket.
The tragedies come as it emerged that nearly 5,000 migrants reached our shores this year by crossing the Channel in small boats.
Priti Patel, who has pledged to make the route “unviable”, blasted callous human traffickers.
The Home Secretary said: “This is an upsetting and tragic loss of a young life.
"This horrendous incident serves as a brutal reminder of the abhorrent criminal gangs and people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people. We are determined to stop them.”
The recovery of the Sudanese boy came after a huge search by French authorities.
A pal that he was attempting to cross the Channel with was found on the same beach at 1am suffering from hypothermia.
He told rescuers his friend could not swim and was still in the water.
Boulogne deputy prosecutor Philippe Sabatier said the survivor later admitted they “stole the inflatable from a beach hut” and that the “toy blow-up boat” was accidentally punctured by a shovel being used as an oar.
The pair were among dozens trying to make it on Wednesday before Storm Kyle.
French coastguard officials said 41 people were rescued as RNLI crews brought other survivors and their boats into Dover, Kent.
So far this year, at least 4,822 migrants have reached Britain by boat, with August seeing a record 1,265 land already.
Refugee charity Care4Calais called for urgent action to halt the crisis.
Founder Clare Moseley said: “We’re devastated by the unnecessary death of this child. We can only imagine the fear he felt.
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“Things need to change. We need a way for people’s asylum claims to be heard without them having to risk their lives.”
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There have been 33 arrests involving traffickers since July with £400,000 seized.
Dan O’Mahoney, the Home Office’s new clandestine Channel threat commander, is expected in France today to continue talks with officials in a bid to tackle the crisis.
THE SUN SAYS
THE horrors that the Sudanese teenager who died in the Channel must have suffered hardly bear thinking about.
The “toy” dinghy and makeshift paddles he used tell a heartbreaking story of just how desperate he must have been when he set off on his final journey.
He wanted a new life in Britain and lost everything pursuing it.
The tragedy serves as a painful reminder the migrant crisis is a human emergency, not just a political one.
Which is why we urge Labour to stop playing politics and throw its weight behind Home Secretary Priti Patel as she cracks down on the real villains of this piece: the evil people-traffickers exploiting human misery by aiding and abetting these perilous crossings.
It’s easy for Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds to claim that the Government “lacks competence and compassion”.
And predictably, the comment is raking in supportive responses from Labour backbenchers on social media.
But deep down, Mr Thomas-Symonds knows as well as we do that this humanitarian crisis can only be solved with teamwork.
It’s time for him and his party to give it a go.
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