Three men have been arrested in connection with a Channel boat crossing that led to the deaths of five people, including a young girl.
The three have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally. The suspects – two Sudanese men aged 22 and 19 and a 22-year-old from South Sudan – are being questioned by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in Kent, the agency said.
The arrests came as Guirec Le Bras, a public prosecutor in Boulogne-sur-Mer, confirmed that the child was six and a half, and raised the question of whether she had been trampled to death.
He said: “It appears from the first acts of investigation, and in particular from hearings of the people rescued, that the boat involved must have transported 40-50 migrants who had paid for their passage.
“At the time of departure, between 40 and 50 migrants reportedly came out of the dunes and forced themselves on to the boat, crushing many people already onboard. At the same time, some continued to push the boat out to sea, which resulted in more than 100 migrants on the boat, far from the shores.
“The testimonies of the people who were brought back to the dock [on Tuesday] do not suggest drowning or the fact that the boat capsized at any time”.
The 55 people onboard the small boat who survived the journey have been interviewed and are expected to be spoken to further in the coming days.
Craig Turner, the deputy director of investigations for the National Crime Agency, said: “This tragic incident once again demonstrates the threat to life posed by these crossings and brings into focus why it is so important to target the criminal gangs involved in organising them.
“We will do all we can with partners in the UK and France to secure evidence, identify those responsible for this event and bring them to justice.”
More than 110 people were said to have been on the vessel when it left at 5am near the Plage des Allemands. The deaths happened near the town of Wimereux, south of Calais.
The Pas-de-Calais prefect, Jacques Billant, said that despite the deaths, 57 people had continued their journey to Britain once the boat’s motor had been restarted.
Billant told the Guardian on Tuesday that a rescue operation was dispatched quickly to the boat, and rescuers saw six people “in great difficulty” or inanimate on the boat.
They were immediately rescued and taken to the shore for treatment by emergency services but “despite attempts to reanimate them, five of them died”, he said.
A further 47 people were rescued from the vessel and helped by police, emergency services and doctors in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Four were admitted to hospital for treatment.
Billant said that “despite this complex and delicate situation”, 57 people on the dinghy did not want to leave the boat. They managed to get the motor running and continued to Britain, under the surveillance of French authorities.
Hours earlier, Rishi Sunak’s government passed legislation to allow it to deport to Rwanda asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on small boats.
The prime minister said the “tragic” reports of deaths in the Channel showed why the Rwanda plan was needed.
The Refugee Council in the UK described the deaths as “devastating” and “all the more tragic” coming so soon after the Rwanda bill was passed.
More than 6,000 people have crossed the Channel this year, an increase of about a quarter on the same period last year.
French police continue to investigate the circumstances that led to the deaths alongside Kent police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force and the NCA.
