UK police make additional arrest over migrants' deaths in Channel

25/4/2024 18:39

        British police said on Thursday they had arrested an additional individual over the deaths of five migrants, including a child, who died attempting to cross the Channel from France on a small boat earlier this week.
        
        The deaths occurred when a boat carrying 112 people set out to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world on Tuesday, and panic took hold among the passengers not far from the shore.
        
        The National Crime Agency (NCA) said, the 18-year-old from Sudan was arrested on Wednesday evening in Kent, southeast England, on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
        
        The NCA said, three other men have also been arrested in connection with the fatal crossing, but one of these, a 19-year-old from Sudan, has since been released without charge and will be dealt with by immigration officials.
        
        The two other men, both aged 22 from Sudan and South Sudan, were still being held in police custody.
        
        Official figures show 402 people arrived in Britain on Tuesday in seven boats, taking the total of cross-Channel arrivals this year to more than 6,500.