A 7-year-old girl is among five migrants who died while attempting to cross into the United Kingdom (UK) through the English Channel in a small boat.

The incident happened in the early morning hours of Tuesday April 23.

BBC journalist Andrew Harding witnessed the harrowing scene unfold, describing how French police struggled to prevent migrants from charging towards the sea.

“The French police had struggled to stop the migrants as they’d charged from the dark sand dunes towards the sea.”

Despite their efforts, over one hundred people including the girl whom some migrants described as partially sighted boarded the inflatable boat.

Once aboard the police made no further attempt to stop the migrants who were dragging their vessel across the sand.

Moments later, Harding notes that he observed small rescue boats being launched from a large French maritime rescue ship off the coast.

Amidst the chaos, the police managed to stop an Iraqi woman and her child on the shoreline as they could not keep up with the group.

The BBC journalist reported that the woman wanted to cross the channel out of desperation to reunite with her family in the UK.

Also Read: UK Refugees to Get Money If They Agree to Live in Rwanda.

Other Witnesses Accounts

According to an update by the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, Jacques Billant, “The boat set sail from the Plage des Allemandes beach in Wimereux, with 112 people on board. This has never been seen before.”

“A few hundred meters from the coast, the engine stopped, and several people fell into the water,” he said.

He further added that upon the arrival of a patrol boat dispatched to rescue them, several people were found unconscious.

Additionally, six people were taken to the shore at Wimereux to be treated by emergency services, but despite resuscitation attempts, five of them died.

Nevertheless, the authorities reported that 58 people who were still in the inflatable remained on board, as they did not wish to be rescued.

“They managed to restart the engine and decided to continue their sea route towards Great Britain under the surveillance of the French Navy,” Jacques explained.

The remaining 49 were safely taken back to Boulogne in France.

Also Read: UK Plan to Deport Refugees to Rwanda Faces Setback

UK Plans to Deport Migrants to Rwanda

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the incident that happened in the Channel in which five people died as “tragic” and highlighted the necessity of his Rwandan plan.

Speaking to reporters Sunak stated that the bill was crucial to prevent individuals from making such dangerous crossings.

He attributed the exploitation of individuals to criminal gangs and emphasized the need to dismantle their operations, primarily for humanitarian reasons.

“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,” he told the media.

Sunak’s flagship legislation known as Rwanda bill, aims to send migrants arriving on small boats to have their asylum claims processed in Rwanda.

According to Sunak the scheme to deport refugees to Rwanda is one of the measures to addressing the pressing issue of illegal immigration.