UK police make fourth arrest in response to migrant deaths off France’s coast

• UK police arrested an 18-year-old Sudanese man on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.
• The arrest occurred as part of an investigation into a small boat crossing that led to the deaths of five migrants.
• The 19-year-old was released without charge and immigration authorities are now handling his case.

On Thursday, UK police announced that they had arrested another man after five migrants, including a child, died this week while attempting to cross the Channel from France. The National Crime Agency (NCA) stated that they arrested an 18-year-old from Sudan late Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.

The arrest occurred as part of an investigation into the Channel small boat crossing, which led to the deaths of five people on a French beach on Tuesday. The NCA detained two Sudanese nationals aged 19 and 22, and a South Sudan national, also 22, on Tuesday and Wednesday, also on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally.

The NCA stated that they have released the 19-year-old without charge, and immigration authorities are now handling his case. The latest arrest occurred at Manston in Kent, southeast England, and authorities took the suspect into custody for questioning.

In the early hours of Tuesday, three men, a woman, and a seven-year-old girl lost their lives in the sea near the northern French town of Wimereux. They were aboard a packed boat that had set off before dawn but experienced engine failure a few hundred meters from the beach.

Several people fell into the water, and emergency services rescued about 50 individuals and brought them ashore, but they were unable to resuscitate the five victims. According to a source, fifteen people have died this year while attempting to cross the busy shipping lane from northern France to southern England. This already exceeds the 12 fatalities recorded in the whole of last year.

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