News / Human Rights

People have been struck by cars or trains, suffocated in lorries or drowned in the Channel

Thursday, 20 August 2020 3:23 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 20 August 2020 3:35 PM ]

UK Border Force patrol vessel HMC Eagle carries migrants picked up at sea on arrival at the Marina in Dover on August 15, 2020. / AFP / Ben STANSALL

The death of a 16-year-old Sudanese boy found on Sangatte beach near Calais, in France, is not the first tragedy to arise from attempts to reach the UK.

The boy was found dead on a beach near Calais on Wednesday morning, after trying to cross the Channel with another boy in an inflatable dinghy using shovels for oars.

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A significant number of people have died after being hit by cars in northern France as they made their way on foot to reach beaches or ports along the coast, and others have drowned in the Channel, suffocated in lorries or been hit by trains.

Previous cases involving migrants dying tragically while attempting to enter the UK include, but are by no means limited to, the following:

23 October 2019 Thirty-nine Vietnamese men, women and teenagers were found dead in a truck in Essex, England. The trailer had been shipped from the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Purfleet docks.

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14 October 2019 A 17-year-old Iraqi Kurd and a 22-year-old man, also Iraqi, were discovered dead on a beach in Le Touquet, northern France.

26 August 2019 The body of Masoud Niknam, 47, was found off the coast of Zeebrugge, Belgium. He was wearing flippers, two pairs of jeans to protect him from the cold, and a lifejacket made from netting and empty plastic bottles.

9 August 2019 Mitra Mehrad, 31, an Iranian woman, fell from a dinghy off the coast of Kent and her body was found in Dutch waters.

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8 March 2019 A 19-year-old Ethiopian boy named Kiyar was found dead in a lorry at Calais, having tried to reach the UK where he had extended family.

18 November 2018 Mahammat Abdullah Moussa, 25, a Chad national, was discovered dead under a bus by French police at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, Kent.

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30 September 2015 Berihu, a 23-year-old man from Eritrea, was run over by a train in the Eurotunnel.

17 September 2015 A Syrian man in his 20s was electrocuted while trying to climb on to a Eurotunnel freight train to England. He was found on the train’s roof after being shocked by overhead power lines near the French entrance.