Toddler among four people who died in asylum seekers’ Channel crossing [Video]

A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy and three adults died overnight after two boats crowded with migrants got into difficulty while attempting the perilous Channel crossing from France to England, French officials said Saturday.

The latest tragedies bring to 51 the number of migrants who have died attempting to reach England from France so far this year, according to Jacques Billant, France’s prefect for the Pas-de-Calais region.

In one incident, a child was found unresponsive in an overloaded dinghy when migrants issued a call for assistance on Saturday morning.

The boat, carrying nearly 90 people, had suffered engine failure off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France. The boy could not be saved, officials said.

Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said the child, born in Germany to a Somali mother, had been crushed to death.

Fourteen other migrants were picked up by French officials, including a 17-year-old teenager who had to be hospitalised …