A young girl has drowned while trying to cross from France to England in a small boat.
The girl, aged seven, was one of around 15 migrants on the flimsy vessel including her pregnant mother.
Local authorities said the boat capsized a few kilometres from the coast, shortly after those on board had got on.
The girl’s parents, who were on board with their three other children, were transported to a hospital centre in Dunkirk.
In a press release, the Northern Prefecture said the boat was ‘not sized to support so many people’.
It had not yet even reached the open waters of the Channel as was reportedly still in the Aa river where they had boarded.
The other passengers included another couple, two men and six young children who were all taken to hospital, without their lives being at risk.
Police and firefighters were alerted to the sinking by a walker who saw the danger, the prefecture said.
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