A 10‑year‑old child and two women, aged 30, have died after a small vessel attempting to cross the English Channel encountered distress off the northern French coast, French authorities said.
The authorities responded to a distress call from the boat, which was carrying 105 people, after it set off from Blériot Plage beach in Calais on Monday morning.
Three passengers were treated aboard but were later confirmed dead by an emergency medical team that was air‑lifted by helicopter, according to the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
All remaining passengers were transferred from a rescue boat and disembarked at the port of Calais later that Monday morning, the AFP news agency reported.