Two in court over five Channel dinghy deaths
TWO men were set to appear in court today in connection with the investigation into the deaths of five migrants, including a child, who were trying to cross the English Channel.
Yien Both, a 22-year-old from South Sudan, has been charged with assisting unlawful immigration and attempting to arrive in Britain without valid entry clearance. Tajdeen Adbulaziz Juma, a 22-year-old Sudanese national, has been charged with attempting to arrive here without valid entry clearance. Both men were appearing at Folkestone magistrates’ court today.
The National Crime Agency is working with Kent Police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force to support the French-led investigation into the incident on the beach near
Wimereux in northern France on Tuesday. An 18-year-old man from Sudan has also been arrested over the incident and has been bailed pending further inquiries. A dinghy carrying more than 100 people set off from Wimereux at around 6am on Tuesday but got into difficulty.
Three men, a woman and a girl died, according to the French coastguard.
Some 49 people were rescued but 58 others refused to leave the boat and continued their journey towards the UK, the coastguard said.
One of the passengers who was on board said the boat was stormed by a rival group of migrants, armed with sticks and knives, as it was preparing to set off. Heivin, a woman aged 18, told Sky News: “People were fighting, people were getting stepped on, they were dying and being thrown off.”