An overcrowded dinghy carrying 105 migrants turned deadly Monday when three people, including a 10-year-old child and two women, died while attempting to cross the English Channel.
French maritime authorities received a distress call from the inflatable boat after it ran into trouble off the coast near Wissant, close to Calais. The dinghy had left the northern French coast earlier that morning with 105 people aboard.
Authorities said the three victims appeared to have been crushed in the overcrowded boat rather than drowned. The two women were in their 30s, and the child was believed to be traveling with his mother and siblings. The boat itself did not sink.
All of the other passengers were rescued and taken to safety. Some survivors were brought to the port of Calais wrapped in emergency blankets, while several required medical attention.
The dinghy had reportedly left from the Calais area around 5:15 a.m. and later made a distress call when it was several miles from the coast. Rescue crews, including maritime police and medical teams, responded to the emergency.
French authorities have opened a judicial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths. Officials have also warned about the dangers of increasingly overcrowded boats used by smugglers to transport migrants across one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
The latest deaths add to a growing toll from Channel crossings this year. More than 18,600 people had successfully crossed from France to Britain by late September, according to British government figures, although that total was lower than at the same point in previous years.