Two 22-year-old men have been charged with immigration offences as part of an investigation into the deaths of five migrants, including a child, who died trying to cross the English Channel, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Yien Both, a 22-year-old from South Sudan, has been charged with assisting unlawful immigration and attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.
Tajdeen Adbulaziz Juma, a 22-year-old Sudanese national, has been charged with attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.
Both men have been remanded in custody and are expected to appear before Folkestone Magistrates’ Court later on Friday.
A third man, an 18-year-old from Sudan, has been bailed pending further inquiries.
The five migrants appeared to have been caught in a panic on board when the small boat they were travelling in, carrying 112 people, ran aground on a sandbank not long after leaving Plage des Allemands beach in Wimereux in northern France.
The five migrants appeared to have been caught in a panic on board when the small boat, carrying 112 people, ran aground on a sandbank not long after leaving Plage des Allemands beach in Wimereux in northern France.
French navy sailors discovered them “unconscious and in a serious condition” before taking them ashore where, despite resuscitation attempts, they died, local official Jacques Billant told reporters.
Others were helped from the water during the early morning incident.
Mr Billant said emergency services rescued 47 migrants, with four taken to hospital. He added that more than 50 people decided to remain on the boat and continue their journey toward England.
The five dead included a woman and three men.
More follows…