Seven-year-old girl dies in failed Channel crossing from France

A seven-year-old girl has reportedly died while trying to cross the English Channel, French authorities have said.

The prefecture in France’s Nord department said a small boat carrying 16 migrants was headed from northern France to the UK when it capsized a few kilometres from the French coast.

The boat “was not appropriately sized to carry so many people” and capsized soon after it was boarded in the Aa canal, the local authority said in a statement.

The girl’s parents, who were reportedly travelling with three more of their children, were taken to a hospital in Dunkirk.

It comes just days after three migrants died when their boat got into difficulty while attempting to cross the Channel.

The asylum seekers were pronounced dead after falling into the water off the coast of Cap Gris Nez in northern France on Thursday.

Five migrants died in French waters in January while trying to cross the Channel after a boat carrying around 70 people overturned.

Last Sunday, five small boats carrying 290 migrants reached the UK after leaving France, while last weekend French authorities rescued more than 130 migrants from the coast between Dunkirk and Calais after two inflatable boats got into difficulty in the Channel on Saturday.

This is a breaking news story and is being updated.