Baby dies after migrant boat gets into difficulty in Channel, French officials say

ITV News' Aisha Zahid says the area where the migrant boat got into difficulties is known to be particularly dangerous

A baby has died after a migrant boat got into difficulty in the English Channel, according to French officials.

The French maritime prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea said another 65 migrants were rescued after the incident off the coast of Wissant in the Pas-de-Calais region on Thursday evening.

A French navy patrol boat and helicopter were used in the operation as those rescued were taken back to the port at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The baby was found unconscious following the incident and was later declared dead, the officials said.

Authorities said searches are ongoing to find any more missing people and an investigation has been launched by the public prosecutor’s office.

Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick called small boat crossings a “national emergency” after the baby's death was announced.

Jenrick, who has made migration a central plank of his leadership bid, said: “We’ve seen more deaths this year than ever before. Starmer is condemning people to death for his own ideology.

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“Rather than strengthening the Rwanda scheme to deter people from making the journey in the first place, he scrapped it all because he didn’t come up with the idea.

“Now European countries are looking to do the same thing. It’s a national emergency and he’s playing politics with it.”

A total of 27,509 people have arrived in the UK in small boats so far this year after crossing the Channel - 5% higher than the equivalent point last year.

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